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
Category: Nuclear Threat
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
Seek Arms Control, Not an Arms Race: Responding to China’s Possible Nuclear Build-Up
Satellite images have revealed evidence that China may be increasing the number of nuclear weapons it possesses. Any increase in these massively lethal weapons is cause for concern for peace activists. However, the proper response to such an increase is diplomacy and arms control. We must resist any efforts by foreign policy hawks in the … Continue reading Seek Arms Control, Not an Arms Race: Responding to China’s Possible Nuclear Build-Up
No Combat Experience, No Opinion: Parallels in Pro-bombing and Pro-choice Rhetoric
Paul Fussell, a literary critic and World War II veteran, wrote an essay in the 1980s with the arresting title “Thank God for the Atom Bomb.”[1] A passionate defense of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Fussell’s essay is still sometimes invoked today by bombing supporters.[2] However, Fussell’s argument is seriously flawed—and notably … Continue reading No Combat Experience, No Opinion: Parallels in Pro-bombing and Pro-choice Rhetoric
Wasting Money on Instruments of Death: Nuclear Weapons in the 2022 Budget
The Biden administration’s budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2022 contains much to disturb peace activists. The budget continues the long-standing pattern of grotesquely large military spending, with $715 billion allocated to the Defense Department.[1] Further, the budget specifically continues to fund lavishly the most extreme instruments of death, nuclear weapons. Peace activists need to work … Continue reading Wasting Money on Instruments of Death: Nuclear Weapons in the 2022 Budget
Encouraging Words That Require Action: Comments on the Geneva Summit
President Biden met, for the first time since his inauguration, Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 16 in Geneva. While the summit meeting didn’t produce any dramatic breakthroughs in US-Russian relations, it did provide some encouraging signs. The two countries’ joint statement, released after the summit, contained an important declaration on the evil of nuclear … Continue reading Encouraging Words That Require Action: Comments on the Geneva Summit
On Being a Non-Pacifist Peace Advocate: A Personal Reflection
My main concern, as a writer and activist, for almost a decade now has been the cause of peace: that is, defending human lives against the threat of war, especially the terrible threat of nuclear war. I expect this cause will continue to be my passion for the foreseeable future. Yet while I care deeply … Continue reading On Being a Non-Pacifist Peace Advocate: A Personal Reflection
A Blueprint for a Different Type of Peace Organization
Effective peace activism is urgently needed today. Tensions between the United States on the one hand and both Russia and China on the other are high and have the potential to escalate into war, leading to a nuclear catastrophe. US relations with Iran and North Korea also threaten larger violent conflicts. Meanwhile, the US military … Continue reading A Blueprint for a Different Type of Peace Organization
Peacemaking for Life 