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.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today during our fundraiser. We have 72 hours to add 273 new monthly donors. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.