The Ukraine-Russia war recently passed its 100-day mark. In those 100 days, the war has killed huge numbers of people (precise numbers are unclear) and displaced millions.[1] The war also still threatens to cause harm beyond Ukraine’s borders, whether through a broader conflict between Russia and the west or through an international food crisis. Yet … Continue reading Buy the Time to Make Peace: Seeking a Cease-Fire in the Ukraine War
Category: Nuclear Threat
Wasted Opportunities? The New Defense Budget and Nuclear Posture Review
The Biden administration released its proposed defense budget for Fiscal Year 2023 earlier this spring. The proposal for military spending was also accompanied by a few details on the administration’s plans related to nuclear weapons. For peace activists, the defense plans contain much to lament, but also one significant positive step. The most obvious feature … Continue reading Wasted Opportunities? The New Defense Budget and Nuclear Posture Review
Untying the Knot of War: Seek Negotiation, Not Escalation, in Ukraine
The Russian war against Ukraine is nearing its two-month mark with no clear end in sight. The human suffering caused by the war, including reported human rights violations by Russian forces, is terrible to contemplate.[1] Further, the ongoing US confrontation with Russia over Ukraine carries its own set of dangers: a more uncompromising stance toward … Continue reading Untying the Knot of War: Seek Negotiation, Not Escalation, in Ukraine
A Hidden Cost of the Ukraine War: How Russia’s Invasion Encourages the Spread of Nuclear Weapons
The terrible toll of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is plain to see: thousands killed and millions driven from their homes.[1] The invasion also threatens to bring about a nuclear disaster. Fighting around Ukraine’s nuclear power plants might cause an accident like that at Chernobyl almost 36 years ago.[2] The war also might draw NATO into … Continue reading A Hidden Cost of the Ukraine War: How Russia’s Invasion Encourages the Spread of Nuclear Weapons
A Catastrophe Decades in the Making: The Russian Invasion of Ukraine
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a monstrous injustice. Russia’s blatant aggression of 2022 recalls such similar infamous episodes as the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, repression of a rebellion in Hungary in 1956, and annexation of the Baltic states in 1940. Precisely how many people have been killed since the invasion began … Continue reading A Catastrophe Decades in the Making: The Russian Invasion of Ukraine
“An Inferno That Even the Mind of Dante Could Not Envision”: Martin Luther King on Nuclear Weapons
Although Martin Luther King is most famous for championing racial and economic justice and nonviolent protest, an aspect of King’s thought that has received relatively less attention is his opposition to the ultimate tools of violence, nuclear weapons. Historian Vincent Intondi, in his work African Americans against the Bomb: Nuclear Weapons, Colonialism, and the Black … Continue reading “An Inferno That Even the Mind of Dante Could Not Envision”: Martin Luther King on Nuclear Weapons
Staving Off War: The Russia, Ukraine, and NATO Stand-Off
The conflict between Ukraine and Russia that has been simmering since 2014 now threatens to become open war. Russian military forces reportedly have been gathering close to the Russia-Ukraine border this past fall. US government sources recently suggested Russia might be preparing for an attack on Ukraine.[1] War between Ukraine and Russia would be a … Continue reading Staving Off War: The Russia, Ukraine, and NATO Stand-Off
Checking the Nuclear Threat: The Opportunity of the Nuclear Posture Review
The Biden administration is currently re-evaluating the United States’ nuclear strategy. This re-evaluation offers an opportunity to reduce both the number of nuclear weapons in the US arsenal and the probability that the United States will use such weapons. However, trying to make such changes will provoke considerable resistance from the political and military establishment. … Continue reading Checking the Nuclear Threat: The Opportunity of the Nuclear Posture Review
The Temptation to Escalate: Responding to China’s Hypersonic Weapon Test
US-China tensions increased this fall with the announcement by US officials that China had tested a “hypersonic weapon” earlier in the year. The alleged test has produced alarmist warnings about a Chinese threat to the United States and spurred US efforts to respond in some way. However, these fears about hypersonic weapons are overblown and … Continue reading The Temptation to Escalate: Responding to China’s Hypersonic Weapon Test
Racial Discrimination and Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Navajo’s Struggle against Uranium Mining
A long struggle against injustice took a new turn this fall when a group of Navajo activists moved forward with an appeal to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The New Mexico-based activists are trying to stop the Canadian company Laramide Resources, and its US subsidiary NuFuels, from mining for uranium on Navajo Nation land.[1] … Continue reading Racial Discrimination and Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Navajo’s Struggle against Uranium Mining
Peacemaking for Life 