Nuclear weapons kill directly when they are exploded in wartime or in tests.[1] They also kill indirectly: obtaining uranium, the metal used to produce both nuclear power and nuclear weapons, can expose people to radiation or other hazards. The results are often harmful, even lethal. As with nuclear testing, the people exposed to these hazards … Continue reading Lethal from the Start: Uranium Mining’s Danger to the Most Vulnerable
Category: US Foreign Policy
“The Affairs of a Handful of Natives”: Nuclear Testing and Racism
While nuclear weapons haven’t been used in war for over 75 years, they have still killed and hurt people since 1945. Testing of nuclear weapons has exposed many people to radiation, with its terrible health consequences. Further, the people harmed by nuclear testing have frequently been from different, far less powerful, ethnic groups than the … Continue reading “The Affairs of a Handful of Natives”: Nuclear Testing and Racism
The Biden Administration and Russia: Steps to Build a More Stable Relationship
Among the many challenges Joseph Biden will face as the new president of the United States is how to handle the American relationship with Russia. US-Russian relations have now deteriorated to a level of mutual hostility comparable to that during the Cold War. Hostility between nations is always a serious concern for peace activists, and … Continue reading The Biden Administration and Russia: Steps to Build a More Stable Relationship
A Global Effort to Protect Life: The UN Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons
Honduras became, at end of October, the fiftieth nation to ratify the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.[1] The Treaty, which was finalized in the summer of 2017, has been signed by 84 nations.[2] Now that 50 of those nations have ratified it, the treaty will officially enter into force as international … Continue reading A Global Effort to Protect Life: The UN Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons
Catastrophe by Mistake: The Button and the Danger of Accidental Nuclear War
The most likely way for the United States to end up in a nuclear war today is not because of an aggressive nuclear attack by Russia or North Korea or some other nation. Nor is it likely to be because the United States launches such an aggressive attack on another nuclear-armed nation. The most likely … Continue reading Catastrophe by Mistake: The Button and the Danger of Accidental Nuclear War
Sickness is the Health of the State? Civil Liberties and Conflict during a Pandemic
The Covid-19 pandemic has consumed the world’s attention during these early months of 2020. The virus’ health threat, especially to older people and other vulnerable groups, is correctly the primary concern right now, with the pandemic’s economic consequences perhaps being the second greatest concern. Both these aspects of the pandemic fully deserve the attention of … Continue reading Sickness is the Health of the State? Civil Liberties and Conflict during a Pandemic
“Remember Pearl Harbor—Keep ‘Em Dying”: War and Racism in the Pacific
American planes dropped firebombs on Tokyo 75 years ago, on the night of March 9-10, 1945, killing an estimated 80,000-100,000 people.[1] The firebombing began a six-month-long American bombing campaign against 66 Japanese cities that culminated in the two atomic bombings and killed roughly 400,000 people in total.[2] This killing campaign was the climax of a … Continue reading “Remember Pearl Harbor—Keep ‘Em Dying”: War and Racism in the Pacific
An American Devil Figure: The Complex Legacy of Joseph McCarthy
One of the most infamous figures of 20th-century American history gave one of the most infamous speeches of 20th-century American history 70 years ago this winter. Speaking before a Republican women’s group in Wheeling, West Virginia, on February 9, 1950, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (R-WI), declared that a certain number of US State Department employees … Continue reading An American Devil Figure: The Complex Legacy of Joseph McCarthy
War without End: The United States’ Embrace of Massive Military Power
While Americans’ attention was focused this past December on a president’s impeachment, a significant instance of bipartisan cooperation among both houses of Congress and the executive branch unfolded. In seeming defiance of the divided state of American political life, Congress passed and President Trump signed the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This latest version … Continue reading War without End: The United States’ Embrace of Massive Military Power
East Germany’s Peaceful Revolution: Remembering the Berlin Wall’s Fall
The Berlin Wall fell 30 years ago this year, on November 9, 1989. This massive barrier that since the 1960s had effectively imprisoned the residents of Communist-ruled East Berlin was also a symbol of the larger Cold War division between Eastern and Western Europe and the Soviet Union and the United States. When Berliners broke … Continue reading East Germany’s Peaceful Revolution: Remembering the Berlin Wall’s Fall
Peacemaking for Life 