Sleepwalking Into a Big War - West Fearful as it Loses Military Advantage
Le Monde Diplomatique
A chilling, Dr. Strangelovian nightmare plays out at a Titan II missile complex in September, 1980. A deadly accident – a falling socket puncturing the fuel tank of an intercontinental ballistic missile – leads Air Force personnel, weapon designers, and first responders to work feverishly to prevent a calamitous explosion.
Donald Trump declares how he loves war, and especially the power of 'the nukes.'
Things will continue on in Los Alamos, no matter who is elected U.S. president in November. The political roots run deeper than the surface justifications of security or scientific advancement. And like the rest of the United States, the lasting effects Los Alamos has had on the planet will be felt for millennia to come, if humanity outlasts the product of its labor for at least 24,100 years—the half-life of plutonium-239.
Reader Comments: Sanders and the Democrats - Inside and Outside; #BlackLivesMatter - Baltimore, Freddie Gray, Police Incitement; Trump - the Myth of Working Class Support, Whiff of Fascism; Turkey and Nuclear Weapons; Black Athletes Speak Out; Zika; Israel; Announcing - Women's Boat to Gaza is Now a Reality; and more...
Astounding increases in the danger of nuclear weapons have paralleled provocative foreign policy decisions that needlessly incite tensions between Washington and Moscow. It's been 71 years since atomic bombs destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and humanity's memory of those events has dimmed. The bombs that obliterated those cities were tiny by today's standards.
Out-of-control U.S. nuclear weapons programs accelerate spending, proliferation, health and safety risks. Despite a clear obligation under Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty the US continues to pursue exotic elective changes to the nuclear stockpile. Many LEPs will result in nuclear weapons with new military capabilities—contrary to promises and assertions made by President Obama.
The wastes sent to West Lake have most of the uranium removed from them, but they include concentrated radioactive decay products, some of which are tens of thousands of times more radioactive than the parent uranium. Because they are so highly radioactive, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health found that the West Lake landfill holds the “worst” of the Mallinckrodt wastes.
Spread the word