51. WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, December 8, 2021
Contents: Nuclear Weapons ACTION
Joseph Gerson, Reducing Danger of Nuclear War
Abel Tomlinson, Ending Nuclear Weapons Research
at UAF
Michael Klare, Quit Provoking China with our
Nuclear Navy
TEXTS
Joseph Gerson. The threat of nuclear war is now higher than it was during the Cold War. 12-1-21
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The threat of nuclear war is now higher than it was during the Cold War
That’s according to the former Former Secretary of Defense William Perry -- who is no peacenik.
That’s why it’s more urgent than ever that our Representatives institute a policy of No First Use and No Sole Authority in order to reduce the grave peril posed by nuclear weapons. Ask your Senators and Representative and Congressional leadership to support legislation to institute a United States policy of No First Use of nuclear weapons.
It’s important that we act now. President Joe Biden's Nuclear Posture Review is underway, and it will determine his administration’s approach to nuclear policy. If we want to avoid a devastating nuclear war, we need to demonstrate broad public support for a policy of No First Use. Call and Email Congress to tell them to support a No First Use policy for nuclear weapons!
There are two bills in Congress, the Markey-Lieu Bill (S.1148, HR.669) and the Warren-Smith Bill (S.1219, HR.2603), that would institute a No First Use Policy. These bills should be uncontroversial for anyone who wants to avoid a potentially disastrous nuclear war. Yet, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer haven’t used their leadership to make sure these bills get a vote. Call on your Representatives to institute a policy of No First Use and demand that Pelosi and Schumer bring the bills to a vote!
We know that establishing a policy of No First Use is just the first step towards our ultimate goal of abolishing nuclear weapons. For the sake of people and our planet, we must do everything we can to make the world safer from the impending threat of nuclear war. Contact your representative today.
Because it's 100 seconds to midnight, Elaine Scarry.
Mass Peace Action Nuclear Disarmament Working Group
Campaign for Peace, Disarmament & Common Security
P.S. Don't forget to take action right now
If you are unable to join us, you can still support our peace building work by donating here:
https://www.cpdcs.org/donate/
Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common
Website
at the University of Arkansas!
Join the campaign Facebook group for Omni partner Arkansas Nonviolence Alliance to learn more and see how you can help.
This is a Campaign Celebrating the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty (TPNW), and Calling for the University of Arkansas to Terminate its Nuclear Weapons Program with the Honeywell Corporation, and for Global Nuclear Weapons Abolition.
It also highlights the complicity of the University of Arkansas Dept of Engineering in designing components for nuclear weapons in collaboration with Honeywell International. It's also interning UA students with Honeywell. Do those students know they are designing weapons of mass destruction?
Nuclear Weapons of Mass Destruction Gravely Endanger Everyone in the World and Are a Massive Waste of Financial Resources, with U.S.A. Currently Set to Spend $1.7 trillion on New Nuclear Bombs.
As a Progressive City,
Fayetteville Must Say No, Not Here!
Tomgram: Michael Klare, War With China in 2027?
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Michael Klare, War With China in 2027? December 2, 2021
Yep, it happened again for the 11th time this year. (In 2020, the number was 13.) An American warship, in this case the guided-missile destroyer Milius, sailed through the Taiwan Strait between mainland China and the disputed island of Taiwan to, as a Navy spokesperson put it, "demonstrate the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific." From the Navy point of view, the Milius's recent voyage is nothing but a vivid demonstration that "the United States military flies, sails, and operates anywhere international law allows." Who cares how upset Chinese officials might get?
And honestly, who can deny it? Anywhere is anywhere, no matter how loaded (if you'll excuse that all-too-loaded word) the situation there might be. If Chinese officials are disturbed, how unreasonable of them! TomDispatch regular Michael Klare, in fact, keeps a tally of such close encounters of the naval kind at his Committee for a Sane U.S.-China Policy website. So far this year, he's already counted 56 of them in the region, no small number when you think about it and any one of which could lead, all too literally, to an explosive situation.
Yes, the spokesmen for the Chinese government, which claims the island of Taiwan as its own, complain bitterly about such constant provocations (as those officials see it). As openness, but rather deliberate disruption and sabotage of regional peace and stability" -- but who really cares?
Now, admittedly, I have yet to see American officials invite Chinese naval vessels to sail up and down the California coast, but no one in Washington would mind that, would they? Of course not! In fact, I'm sure, that, in the name of upholding international law, there's an open invitation to some Chinese guided-missile destroyer to visit soon and often! In the meantime, as Klare suggests today, such maneuvers might be the least of our future problems -- with a potential World War III looming on the horizon. Tom
Countdown to World War III?
It May Arrive Sooner Than You Think
By Michael Klare
When the Department of Defense released its annual report on Chinese military strength in early November, one claim generated headlines around the world. By 2030, it suggested, China would probably have 1,000 nuclear warheads -- three times more than at present and enough to pose a substantial threat to the United States. As a Washington Post headline put it, typically enough: “China accelerates nuclear weapons expansion, seeks 1,000 warheads or more, Pentagon says.”
The media, however, largely ignored a far more significant claim in that same report: that China would be ready to conduct “intelligentized” warfare by 2027, enabling the Chinese to effectively resist any U.S. military response should it decide to invade the island of Taiwan, which they view as a renegade province. To the newsmakers of this moment, that might have seemed like far less of a headline-grabber than those future warheads, but the implications couldn’t be more consequential. Let me, then, offer you a basic translation of that finding: as the Pentagon sees things, be prepared for World War III to break out any time after January 1, 2027.
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/12/02/war-world-iii-may-arrive-sooner-you-think