Military
Reasons to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
“The likelihood of a nuclear catastrophe is greater today than during the cold war, and the
public is completely unaware of the danger.” Former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry
“American leaders have declared that nuclear weapons will remain the cornerstone of US
national security indefinitely. In truth...nuclear weapons are the sole military source of our
national insecurity. We, and the whole world, would be much safer if nuclear weapons were
abolished.” Rear Admiral Eugene J. Carroll, USN (Ret.)
Nuclear Weapons did not go away ...
Taxes and Endless Military Spending
“If the Department of Defense can’t figure out a way to defend the United States on a budget of more than half a trillion dollars a year, then our problems are much bigger than anything that can be cured by a few more ships and planes.” Former Defense Secretary Bob Gates
Sec. Gates was a conservative Republican appointed by President G.W. Bush. He was speaking in 2006 when the budget for the Department of Defense was considerably less than today. But his statement is still valid. The American people have been manipulated and deceived into paying way too ...
DEAR LEGISLATORS
“Unchecked militarism is the fatal disease of empires.” - Historian Arnold Toynbee
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town ...
Nuclear Weapons and the Environment
January 22, 2023 marked the second anniversary of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. On January 22, 2021 nuclear weapons officially became illegal under international law. The world community declared the mass murder resulting from using nuclear weapons a crime against humanity. Currently 92 nations have signed and 68 have ratified the treaty and are bound by its provisions.
Unfortunately, none of the nine countries who have nuclear weapons have signed and ratified the treaty. Because they have not, the treaty does not apply to them. As a result, human ...
JUST WHO IS THE AGGRESSOR?
Americans all know Russia is aggressive, populated by Slavic barbarians, and their leader, Putin, is a mad gangster out to dominate the world. The Chinese are just as bad. Their leader, XI Jinping, is friends with Putin. Need one say more? We need to hate these people.
But Americans also believe in fairness, a level playing field. Since the U.S. has placed missiles near Russia’s boarders in Poland and Romania (Ukraine was next) just 5 – 7 minutes flight time to Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other major Russian cities, Russia should put missiles back in Cuba. And as ...
Waste not…
I was just a low level “grunt,” but I saw and participated in a lot of waste. So when I write about waste in the military budget it is not based on political opinion or cherry picking the numbers.
Nuclear weapons are now illegal
Most of the world agrees with these two former national leaders on opposite sides of the Cold War. On January 22, 2021, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons became international law. Nuclear weapons are now illegal. Nations who possess, threaten to use, or use these weapons of mass destruction will be outlaws. This is a big step toward abolishing them altogether.
Defending America from the U.S. Department of Defense
In his final year in office, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had also been the 5-star general who led the allied forces against Nazi Germany in World War II, warned Americans against the dangers of maintaining an oversized military and the military-industrial complex itself. He knew this joining of industry and the military could easily grow out of control, could easily drain rather than protect the nation, could easily become a threat to the future of democracy.
Here is a portion of a speech President Eisenhower gave to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in ...
Historical Perspective on Iran
In the last several articles I wrote about our aggressive, militarized foreign policy and how it leads to conflicts and disastrous wars. The current saber rattling with Iran is a classic example. Over the last seven decades our belligerence and interference in the internal affairs of Iran are illustrative of the mistakes we have made all over the world. Knowing this history, it is not hard to understand why we are considered the “great Satan” by Iran.
This is all verifiable history – not ideological or political cherry picking. Since World War II the U.S. ...
An Alternative to War
“Thinking that war is inevitable makes it so; it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
“Thinking that ending war is possible opens the door to constructive work on an actual peace system.”
“There is more peace in the world than war. It is not inevitable. We have a record of doing things differently. We have changed in the past and we can do more in the future.”
Most people think world peace is a Utopian pipe dream. Humans are the killer ape. War is as old as humans and it isn't about to go away. We live in a dangerous world and must rely on a strong ...