How can we cope with a lie which is so monstrous, so in-your-face, that the mind is paralysed. Am I going mad? How can they say such a thing? Arsenals of nuclear weapons ready for launch at the press of a button make us safe!
There are over 20,000 nuclear weapons in existence, sufficient destructive power to incinerate every human being on the planet three times over. There are more than 2000 nuclear weapons held on hair-trigger alert ready to fly at a moments notice. There are 9 states with nuclear weapons. Every moment of every day the system is primed for nuclear Armageddon by accident, misjudgement or malicious intent. The missiles travel at over 1000 miles every 4 minutes and there is no way of detecting them except by electronic means – and we all know, from our own experience that all electronic systems are subject to malfunction.
We citizens are told by the political instigators and sustainers of this lunatic system that it is there to keep us safe. Can you get your head round that? Einstein said of our nuclear mindset ‘… and thus we drift towards unparallel catastrophe’. We are dead on course.
World spending on nuclear weapons surpasses one trillion dollars per decade. We know from polls and the nuclear free zones covering most of the globe that citizens do want to live teetering on the edge of Armageddon. The leaders of the nine nuclear states want these arsenals because they think they give them status!
“Arms Control Today” reported in May 2012 that yearly funding for U.S. nuclear weapons activities totals nearly 31 billion dollars.
Even the final DOD report “Foreign Perspectives on U.S. Nuclear Policy and Posture” (2006) acknowledged, “There is a widespread perception that the United States is placing heightened emphasis on nuclear weapons as part of overall U.S. defense posture” and that it is “….lowering the threshold of nuclear weapons use.”
In the UK, the 2006 White Paper, “The Future of the United Kingdoms Nuclear Deterrent,” stated that we need a nuclear arsenal for the next 50 years. The UK government says a decision to rebuild its fleet of Trident submarines has not been taken. The mega-lie breeds lesser monstrous lies. The UK government is already spending billions of pounds at its Aldermaston nuclear weapons factory (with its staff of 5,000) retooling for the redesign of its Trident fleet. Right now it is spending billions on the steel hulls for the new submarines.
Russia, France and China are all renewing their nuclear arsenals.
This is not Russian Roulette. Here there are bullets in all the chambers of the revolver the nuclear weapons states are holding to the head of humanity. And we have no control over the finger on the trigger.
This is the posture of a species of sentient beings which has lost the will to live. This is the stance of a species on the verge of mass suicide – self induced extinction.
This posture of incipient suicide is defended by the perpetrators with the plea ‘It is maintained to keep us safe’. It is impossible to imagine a more colossal lie. This lie is so vast and omnipresent that we cannot get far enough away from it to see it for what it is.
The solution is simple.
A Nuclear Weapons Treaty, outlawing these weapons, paralleling the chemical and biological weapons treaties.
We must get rid of this terminal threat very soon before our luck runs out.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re shoring up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy