Friends,
Consider doing lobbying with your legislators on this issue of getting US nukes out of Europe. We believe they are provocative and threatening to Russia. Note that one purpose of our lobbying efforts is to educate the staff. They are overwhelmed in the jobs, and appreciate when we bring up issues with which they are unfamiliar. Anyone concerned about the dangers inherent in nuclear weapons, should consider urging your legislators to say to the Biden administration it is imperative that US nuclear weapons must be removed from Europe.
On
November 2 at 10 AM, Ellen Barfield, Phil Berrigan Memorial Chapter of Veterans
for Peace, Lou Curran, Prevent Nuclear War/Maryland and I representing the
Baltimore Nonviolence Center met with Ben Gantt, a foreign policy aide to Rep.
John Sarbanes. Janice Sevre-Duszynska, also with the Nonviolence Center,
opted to attend a Zoom meeting of Baltimore Peace Action.
I began
the interaction with Gantt explaining that I was taught that Columbus was a
great explorer who discovered America. But when I read Howard Zinn’s The
People’s History of the United States, I saw a different take on the explorer,
as he was actively engaged in the genocide of the indigenous people.
And a
similar scenario was evident with regards to the Cuban Missile Crisis in
1962. The conventional story was that President Kennedy made Khrushchev
back down and agree to remove the Soviet nuclear weapons from Cuba. Actually,
though, what really happened was there was an agreement that Kennedy would
remove US nuclear weapons from Turkey and pledge that the US would not invade
Cuba. In return, the Soviet nuclear weapons were removed from Cuba.
Following this thread, our main ask for Rep. Sarbanes: urge President Biden to
agree to remove US nuclear weapons from Belgium, Germany, Italy, the
Netherlands and Turkey. This could jump start negotiations with Russia
about nuclear disarmament treaties. Sadly Bush II and Trump abrogated several
nuclear weapons treaties.
I
indicated I read that the placement of US nukes in Europe violates the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty. I asked the aide to please investigate if this
is accurate.
I
then spoke on behalf of Janice. Ever since President Obama decided to
spend more than a trillion tax dollars on refurbishing the nuclear arsenal,
Janice has been very upset. She recognizes that these are wasted tax
dollars which should have been spent on climate chaos mitigation, healthcare,
education and many other social programs. It is presumed that Obama promoted
the “upgrade” of the nuclear arsenal to reward weapons contractors such
Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.
We
brought to Gantt’s attention that for years we have been protesting weapons
contracts at Johns Hopkins University. The International Campaign to Abolish
Nuclear Weapons [ICAN] which won the Nobel Peace Prize indicated that JHU was
the #1 School of Mass Destruction as it receives the most nuclear weapons
research dollars.
Ellen
explained as a veteran she saw that US nukes were installed in foreign countries
on a wink-wink basis. She also pointed out that there are 800 US military
bases overseas, an example of a huge misuse of tax dollars. It was also
brought up that the Pentagon is a major contributor to climate chaos. We
did thank Sarbanes for voting for an amendment
to the Fiscal Year 2023 National
Defense [sic] Authorization Act (NDAA), which would have
reduced the Pentagon's budget by $100 billion. We also praised the
representative for his work on protecting the vote.
Lou
indicated that Rep. Sarbanes should co-sponsor H.Res.1185 - Embracing the goals
and provisions of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. And he
should speak to his colleagues in the Senate to introduce a similar resolution.
Lou informed the aide that the Baltimore City Council approved a Back
from the Brink resolution – five steps which the United States could do to
prevent a nuclear war. And Baltimore is a Nuclear Free Zone. While Back
from the Brink was a resolution, the Nuclear Free Zone came about in 1992 as a
legally-binding ordinance. And recently the City installed new NFZ signs
on roadways throughout Baltimore. Getting our Maryland representatives to
co-sponsor 1185 would continue that anti-nuclear weapons perspective in this
state.
We concluded our presentation with some of our other concerns. The
power to order the use of a nuclear weapon must be removed from the president.
The United States has roughly 1,700 deployed nuclear weapons and another
several thousand in reserve. Four hundred of these are on missiles in
underground silos, ready to be launched within minutes of a presidential order.
These weapons must be taken off hair-trigger alert. The U.S. is set to spend
$264 billion dollars on the projected lifetime cost of the Ground-Based
Strategic Deterrent program, which is set to replace the land-based nuclear
missiles.
Ben Gantt indicated he welcomed meeting with us and
emphasized that John Sarbanes is concerned about military spending and any use
of nuclear weapons. We agreed to stay in touch, and look forward to the
representative’s response to our asks.
Kagiso, Max
Donations can be sent
to Max Obuszewski, Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206,
Baltimore, MD 21212. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at]
comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
No comments:
Post a Comment