Opinion 15 Seconds Until Nuclear Armageddon HEAD TOPICS
Opinion 15 Seconds Until Nuclear Armageddon
10/21/2022 3:56:00 PM ' The preparation for nuclear war continues unabated while the voices of opposition remain merely cries from the political margins '
Source Common Dreams
'The preparation for nuclear war continues unabated, while the voices of opposition remain merely cries from the political margins.' As war wreaks hell in Ukraine—and the threat of a nuclear confrontation between superpowers continues to intensify—NATO is in the process of prepping for the end of the world. (that is, Thunder), soon as well.I can't read about this without summoning what I call"the big why?" from deep within. Endless resources are devoted annually to nuclear deterrence, a.k.a., the big bluff:"If you mess with me, you're gonna get it." The point, allegedly, is to prevent war, which is absolutely paradoxical in a global political system based on the psychosocial disease of militarism, i.e., the pursuit of national interest and the maintenance of safety primarily via force and violence. Read more:
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'The Kardashians:' Kourtney Calls Out Kim and Khloe for Excluding HerKhloe Kardashian took a trip down memory lane on Thursday's episode of 'The Kardashians' on Hulu. Wait. People still watch this show ? 🥱🥱They have nothing Exciting going On!😴 Their not Even Exciting! The Same News all the time! They're Fame Revenant is Over! There's nothing else to left to Tell!!!🥱 Armageddon Time Is a Personal, Prickly Film about the Paradox of AssimilationJames Gray dives into the complex issue of American discrimination with intimacy and tact in Armageddon Time. justbrizigs' NYFF60 review: Grom (that is, Thunder), soon as well.October 20, 2022 at 4:08 p.future conflict between Pakistan, India and China.Sen. I can't read about this without summoning what I call"the big why?" from deep within. Endless resources are devoted annually to nuclear deterrence, a. UPDATED: October 20, 2022 at 4:31 p.k. “If such a crisis reaches its full fruition and becomes a military conflict between two nuclear-armed states, we’re going to have a civilization-ending event.a. SAN BRUNO — The San Mateo County Community College District on Thursday opened a new 30-unit employee housing complex at Skyline College, the third such project undertaken by the district in response to the area’s unaffordability crisis., the big bluff:"If you mess with me, you're gonna get it. Another two Democrats who’d previously supported the bill weren’t present Monday. " The point, allegedly, is to prevent war, which is absolutely paradoxical in a global political system based on the psychosocial disease of militarism, i. The district’s latest college is Skyline Vista, a three-story, 30-unit apartment complex on a 2-acre site at Skyline College. Before such a nightmare scenario occurs, Helfand sees an opportunity to come together if our leaders are honest, courageous, truthful and tell people what needs to be done.e., the pursuit of national interest and the maintenance of safety primarily via force and violence. A rendering of Skyline Vista employee housing development at Skyline College. No matter that this is the nuclear age, that force and violence could—oh so easily—go too far and wreak horror on everyone. “Either we’re going to do something very fundamentally different, or we’re going to have a nuclear war and that needs to be clearly understood by everyone. The preparation for nuclear war continues unabated, while the voices of opposition remain merely cries from the political margins. “For nearly 20 years, our district has led the way in educational workforce housing,” district Chancellor Michael Claire said. It would also require temp agencies to tell their workers where they are going to work and how much they will get paid. There's no actual"debate" here, just a lot of powerless anguish, or so it seems. For instance, two years ago an open lette r, signed by 56 former political leaders (including former prime ministers) of 20 NATO countries, as well as Japan and South Korea, was released to the world, pleading to current NATO countries—to all the nuclear-armed nations—to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which the U.” The homes have comfortable kitchens, private outdoor space, and plenty of natural light, as well as a dedicated covered parking space and secure bike storage for each unit. When thinking of a nuclear weapon’s aftermath, Snyder says that beyond the death and destruction, there would be associated disruption of transportation, trade, commerce, travel and global markets.N. passed in 2017 by a vote of 122-1. The three-college district located between San Francisco and San Jose serves some 31,000 students each year and offers two-year degrees and transfer programs as well as vocational and technical courses. The nations represented by the letter's signatories have, of course, totally ignored the treaty, which was ratified last year, making nuclear weapons technically"illegal," which seems to mean nothing at all. Such abrupt shifts could also threaten human rights and the environment in places that were suddenly in demand. The next Senate session will take place Nov. The letter concludes thus:"With close to 14,000 nuclear weapons located at dozens of sites across the globe and on submarines patrolling the oceans at all times, the capacity for destruction is beyond our imagination. And it doesn’t stop at assigning apartments to staff and faculty, the district also has a homebuyer program. All responsible leaders must act now to ensure that the horrors of 1945 are never repeated. Sooner or later, our luck will run out—unless we act. The district could give an employee a loan of $50,000 and up to $150,000 if they can do a dollar-to-dollar match and purchase the home with at least a 20% down payment. Even in such a scenario, Snyder says, “every place will be affected in some way. The nuclear weapon ban treaty provides the foundation for a more secure world, free from this ultimate menace. We must embrace it now and work to bring others on board. A preliminary landscape plan rendering showing one landscaping option for the apartment complex. There is no cure for a nuclear war. Prevention is our only option. Danielle Powell, who lives at Cañada Vista on the Cañada College campus, has lived in employee housing for nine years after moving to the Bay Area from Seattle." Stunning words! They were signed by former leaders of the following countries: Albania, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain and Turkey. They also wrote:". “This was a really tremendous blessing for me to be able to afford to live in California,” Powell said “I owned a place in the Seattle area but because of the 2008 market crash I lost my place and so coming here helped me to get back on my feet. . .” But despite all the praise from administrators and people who live in these workforce apartments, Powell must leave her place in May after living there nearly a decade because of the district’s seven-year stay rule.we appeal to current leaders to advance disarmament before it is too late." "We appeal . “I have no idea where I’m going to go,” Powell said. . . I am a single person with one salary, so to be able to afford something on the Peninsula is not feasible. ?" And suddenly the whole letter crawled back into the political margins. These were former prime ministers, former defense ministers, speaking the deepest possible political truth, but seemingly they had no more power to bring about the change—global nuclear disarmament—than I do. “What apartments cost now is ridiculous, even when you make a decent salary. Behind the formal language was a simple plea:" Come on, guys. Nuclear militarism doesn't work.”. You know it as well as we do. " But nothing has changed. Perhaps only when you're no longer in power do you become free of the psychosocial disease of militarism. And thus"nuclear deterrence," along with enormous, bloated military budgets, remains the way of the developed world. Militarism—including nuclear militarism—remains the way of the world, accompanied by an enormous shrug. This being the case, it strikes me as appropriate to revisit fifteen seconds in the life of Stanislav Petrov, a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defense Forces, who, on Sept. 26, 1983, essentially saved the world from nuclear war. He was on duty at the command center outside Moscow where nuclear threat was monitored. Several hours into his shift that morning, the alarm went off. Oh my God! Computers immediately warned that the U.S. had just launched five ICBMs at the Soviet Union. "For fifteen seconds, we were in a state of shock," he later said. These were fifteen seconds in which the fate of humanity—your fate, my fate—were up for grabs. As the New York Times noted, this was a deeply tense period of the Cold War. Three weeks earlier, the Soviet Union had shot down a Korean Air Lines commercial flight flying over Soviet territory, killing all 269 people on board. And President Reagan had recently declared that the Soviet Union was an"evil empire" and refused to freeze the arms race. Uh oh. According to protocol, Petrov should have reported the alert up the military chain of command, with nuclear retaliation the likely result. But the computer warning seemed odd. It indicated that only five missiles had been launched, which made no sense. Why so few? In those fifteen seconds, as he recovered from his shock and pulled himself together, he studied the flashing maps. His gut instinct was: no, this isn't real. It's a false alarm. The Times wrote: "As the tension in the command center rose—as many as 200 pairs of eyes were trained on Colonel Petrov—he made the decision to report the alert as a system malfunction." And yes, his gut instinct proved accurate. Some clarity and sanity well down the military chain of command kept the world out of nuclear war. That time. Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely. Robert Koehler is an award-winning, Chicago-based journalist and nationally syndicated writer. Koehler has been the recipient of multiple awards for writing and journalism from organizations including the National Newspaper Association, Suburban Newspapers of America, and the Chicago Headline Club. He’s a regular contributor to such high-profile websites as Common Dreams and the Huffington Post. Eschewing political labels, Koehler considers himself a “peace journalist. He has been an editor at Tribune Media Services and a reporter, columnist and copy desk chief at Lerner Newspapers, a chain of neighborhood and suburban newspapers in the Chicago area. Koehler launched his column in 1999. Born in Detroit and raised in suburban Dearborn, Koehler has lived in Chicago since 1976. He earned a master’s degree in creative writing from Columbia College and has taught writing at both the college and high school levels. Koehler is a widower and single parent. He explores both conditions at great depth in his writing. His book," .