Vasily Arkhipov Day: After 64 Years, The Nuclear Threat Returns

 Vasily Arkhipov Day: After 64 Years, The Nuclear Threat Returns

A Virtual Teach-In on the Current Nuclear Crisis

Tuesday, October 27, 7 to 9pm

 

Dear Friends,

 

Tuesday, October 27 marks the 64th anniversary of the day Vasily Arkhipov single-handedly saved the world from nuclear annihilation. Off the coast of Cuba, the US Navy was attacking the nuclear torpedo equipped Soviet submarine B-59 with depth charges. The ship’s captain gave the order to fire the torpedoes at the Navy flotilla. As the flotilla commander, Vasily Arkhipov countermanded the order, thus preventing a likely thermo-nuclear exchange. Today, Vasily Arkhipov is known as “The Man Who Saved the World.”

 

According to many experts, the World is again on the verge of nuclear war. The immediate causes are the Ukraine War bringing Russia and the US/NATO to the precipice of direct military confrontation, and the rapidly spreading conflagration in Southwest Asia. And, the issues of climate disruption, resource depletion, a rapidly changing geo-political landscape, and the danger of impending world-wide economic collapse greatly exacerbate the threat. The Doomsday Clock is currently set to 85 seconds to midnight, the closest ever!

 

On Thursday, October 27, Vasily Arkhipov Day, the Hiroshima Nagasaki Peace Committee is sponsoring a Virtual Teach-In on the Renewed threat of nuclear war. We are fortunate to have an outstanding panel to discuss the situation:

 

Peter Kuznick: Professor of History and Director of the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University, and co-author with Oliver Stone of The Untold History of the United States.

 

Ray McGovern: Retired CIA officer and founding member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.

 

Arjun Makhijani: President (retired) of the Institute for Energy & Environmental Research and Co-Founder of the Hiroshima Nagasaki Peace Committee. Arjun is the Principal Editor and co-author of Nuclear Wastelands, co-author of Target Japan, and other books.

 

John Steinbach: Long-time community activist and organizer for the Hiroshima Nagasaki Peace Committee will moderate the discussion.

 

Following the presentations, there will be community time for comments and questions. The program will be recorded and posted on the Committee website <hiroshimapeacecommittee.net>

 

Please use the Zoom link to participate.

 

John Steinbach is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

 

Topic: Vasily Arkhipov Day Zoom Meeting

 

Time: Oct 27, 2026 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

 

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Donations can be sent to Max Obuszewski, Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206, Baltimore, MD 21212.  Ph.: 443-761-5899; 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

You

Mon 10/26/2026 11:06 PM

Vasily Arkhipov Day: Aefter 64 Years, The Nuclear Threat Returns A Virtual Teach-In on the Current Nuclear Crisis Tuesday, October 27, 7 to 9pm Dear Friends,

Dick Ochs cannot handle any criticism of Putin

Project Lakhta was a success

 As usual Dick Ochs, who is a supporter of Vlad Putin, will continue to ignore rampant knowledge of Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election.  He ignores the facts, and remains convinced that Putin would never do wrong. It was sad to read this: "Putin did not get Trump elected. Any election interference by Putin was minuscule and insignificant as stated by experts."  You should note that Dick frequents disinformation sites.  Of course, his "experts" remain unknown.

   Let us start with Jill Stein and Peter Kuznick, as well as Michael Flynn, a criminal in Trump’s administration, who received a pardon. Where were they in December 2015?  They were in Moscow sitting at a table with Vlad the Impaler. Why would you sit at a table with a war criminal? See the photograph online.

 

 Putin started to spin the web which eventually placed his ally, Donald Trump, in the White House. It was called Project Lakhta. Stein was there as Putin was aware that the Green Party candidate would take votes away from Hillary Clinton.  And Flynn, a long-time con artist, was there as a grifter willing to sell his soul.  Also, he wanted a role to play in the future Trump administration. He did get that job, was convicted and pardoned. 

 

  Russian intelligence was working with Wikileaks to release DNC emails which indicated the powers-to-be did not want to support Bernie Sanders for president. As Trump cheered for Wikileaks, Bernie supporters did not vote for Hillary. In battleground states—specifically Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan—Stein's total vote counts exceeded Donald Trump's margin of victory over Hillary Clinton. Roger Stone, also convicted and pardoned, was Trump’s point person with Wikileaks.

 

Russian state media outlets like RT and Sputnik actively covered and promoted Stein's campaign messages to critique U.S. foreign policy and target Clinton's voter base. Also, a Russian troll farm created thousands of social media accounts that purported to be Americans supporting Trump and opposing Clinton. There is much more evidence that Putin pulled off a coup, but let me close with a Baltimore connection.

 

 Rev. Heber Brown of the Pleasant Hope Baptist Church was contacted online by Blacktivist, which was a front for the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian government-funded troll farm based in St. Petersburg. The plan was to convince Black voters to support Trump.  Rev. Brown eventually recognized it was a Russian scam.

 

 Of course, this evidence will not sway Dick, a true believer.  Like Trump's diplomat on the make, Steve Witkoff, Dick believes Putin is a humanitarian. I had to respond to his false statements, just in case someone also believed that Putin could do no wrong.  Kagiso, Max

 

Donations can be sent to Max Obuszewski, Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206, Baltimore, MD 21212.  Ph.: 443-761-5899; 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

The film Unabomber left me disappointed

 The film Unabomber left me disappointed

 For 15 years, we gathered on Mondays near Baltimore’s prison complex, which included a building where executions took place.  This vigil was organized by the Jonah House and Viva House Catholic Worker.  It ended when the State of Maryland on May 2, 2013, repealed the death penalty. This was a great and hard-fought victory.

 

  On Netflix I watched the 2026 film Unabomber, directed by Janus Metz Pedersen about Ted Kaczynski. The film stars Russell Crowe, as Professor Henry Murray, Annabelle Wallis, his assistant, Christiano Morgan, and Shailene Woodley, as an FBI agent.

 

In 1958, 16-year-old math wizard, Theodore Kaczynski enrolled at Harvard University and Murray and Morgan got Ted involved in a series of psychological experiments. The film tries to make the point that these experiments caused young Ted to become isolated from his friends and family and to develop a strong opposition to a technological society.

 

First, we see that Ted’s relationship with Professor Murray ended badly. Next, Ted comes home to Chicago for a visit with his mom and dad, Polish immigrants, and his younger brother David.  At dinner, he insults his father for being a working-class stiff.  Having grown up in Erie, PA in a Polish American family and neighborhood, I found the scene insulting.  Almost all the dads in the neighborhood were working class, and they and their spouses emphasized to their children the importance of getting an education. 

 

After Ted graduates from Harvard, the film moves into the 1990s as the FBI is befuddled by terror attacks by the Unabomber.  Eventually, the Unabomber issues a manifesto, and despite arguments against publishing it, it appears in The Washington Post. And David recognizes that the manifesto was written by his brother. Again, the film is misleading as the agency is reluctant to believe the brother.

  It gets more ahistorical as Agent Miller goes to Montana and sees Ted come out of his cabin with a rifle. And the tension mounts, but Ted does not shoot her.

 Getting back to reality, in 2003 at a Lutheran Church in south Baltimore, David Kaczynski and Bud Welch (whose daughter was killed in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing), told the audience that capital punishment does not bring healing or peace to families affected by violence. In fact, Welch wanted to kill Timothy McVeigh but eventually rejected revenge.  David told us he contacted the FBI to indicate he knew the Unabomber. But he wanted a promise that the government would not seek the death penalty. The FBI agreed but later reneged on the promise.  

As a film buff, I accept the idea of dramatizing a true story.  But in this film the premise is that Ted became the Unabomber because of the experiments at Harvard. To make this argument, the film ignores the back story that Ted went to Michigan University and got an MA and Ph.D. Then he taught at Berkeley in the late 1960s and did not move to a cabin in Montana until 1971.

 

I do not know what caused Ted to send letter bombs to scientists. I do question the idea of sending a sixteen-year-old to a university quite far from his family. But I think a better film would have left the question of how Ted became the Unabomber unanswered. Kagiso, Max

 

Donations can be sent to Max Obuszewski, Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206, Baltimore, MD 21212.  Ph.: 443-761-5899; 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 War with Iran

 Maryland Peace Action members & supporters -

National Peace Action has called for PA members to demonstrate at the district offices of Members of Congress on Tuesday Oct 20.   The call is for Congress to use its constitutional powers to end the war in Iran!  "No War in Iran"

Maryland Peace Action will have actions in the districts of Rep Andy Harris (also a foe of DC Statehood) and Rep Glenn Ivey.  Contact info is below.  Please join us to say "No War in Iran" to these members of Congress.

1)  District office of Rep Glenn Ivey - Tues Oct 20 - 3:30 pm;

Contact:  Lucy Duff or Ann Wilcox (202-441-3265)

Address 4301 Garden City Drive, Landover, MD  20785

(New Carrollton metro)

 

2)  District office of Rep Andy Harris in Bel-Air, MD. Meet at the Montebello Lake parking lot at 10 AM on Oct. 20:

Contact:  Richard Ochs (443-846-6638) or Marilyn Carlisle to connect to rides.

 

National Peace Action resources: 

 

1. NIAC, Peace Action, Action Corps and partners are hosting Peace with Iran rallies outside of in-district congressional offices on October 20th demanding a stop to the War on Iran. A full list of demonstrations and other details can be found here. 

 

See this Action Kit, and Emails to send to your networks.

 

Donations can be sent to Max Obuszewski, Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206, Baltimore, MD 21212.  Ph.: 443-761-5899; 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

Max's perspective on socialism

 Friends,

 

After an ignorant editorial about socialism in The Baltimore Sun, I had the letter below published in the newspaper.  A day later, The Sun published a response "Socialist policies come at a cost."  This letterwriter made no sense about socialism, so I wrote a letter in response.  It was not published. See my response after the letter which was published.  Kagiso, Max

 

Letters to the Editor

 

THE SUN

 

Talkback@baltimoresun.com

 

To the editor:

 

To be frank, it is tiresome to read the constant attacks on socialism-- “What would socialist policies mean for the middle class?” [October 8, 2026, The Baltimore Sun]. The editorial falls completely flat in its attempt to disparage a concept which I argue would be beneficial to the working class.

 

 Look at the current national debt and its effects on interest rates. This was not caused by socialism.  If the writer of the editorial is concerned about the middle class, I urge her/him to watch the election results in November as there will be a middle-class revolt against government policies which have made buying a house beyond the reach of many.  Or the cost of groceries or taking out a loan. And there are the millions who no longer have healthcare insurance. The writer makes some of these same points but ignores who created these policies.

 

There was no information about the Scandinavian countries and how socialism is a boon for the middle class. And please do not trot out Senator John Fetterman as some kind of spokesperson, as he is very troubled.  Ask his former staff members.  It was tough to swallow this: “The American dream … depends on individual freedom, hard work and an economy that rewards initiative while giving people room to recover from setbacks.”  This sounds like that disregarded trickle-down theory. No thanks. I am looking forward to a bit of socialism right here in the USA.

 

Max Obuszewski

 

Letters to the Editor

 

THE SUN

 

Talkback@baltimoresun.com

 

To the editor:

 

I do not write letters to the editor about opera as I lack knowledge of that art form. Why do people expound on socialism without having a clue as to what it means?  For example, I suspect a recent letter writer knows nothing about the sewer socialists in Milwaukee who installed a sewer system in a city without one: “Socialist policies come at a cost” [October 13, 2026, The Baltimore Sun.]

 

Is he aware that in June 1918, Eugene Debs gave a speech in Canton, Ohio, promoting socialism and denouncing war? Despite that great notion of freedom of speech in this country, he was arrested and charged with violating the Espionage Act. After being convicted of voicing his opinion, he received a 10-year prison sentence. Two years later, running for president from his Atlanta prison cell he received one million votes as the socialist candidate.

 

Of particular concern was what the letter writer inferred: “… he means commandeering wealth from those who possess it and redistributing it in the form of social programs and direct payments to the middle class.” Ouch. This confirmed to me he is totally ignorant of what socialism is.

 

When Ronald Reagan took office, the national debt was less than a trillion dollars.  Today, as the oligarchs roam around the White House, the national debt is over $40 trillion.  This was not caused by socialism. In our flawed democracy, corporations have first amendment rights, so they buy legislators who cut back on social programs and make sure these companies get government contracts.  Will President Trump eliminate Social Security and ask for two trillion more tax dollars to start another war, to attack Cuba and to continue to deny basic judicial rights by assassinating boat people alleged to be carrying drugs?

 

If we had a socialist administration, the oligarchs would pay their fair share of taxes, everyone would have access to healthcare and programs would be enacted to provide the poor with a way of getting out of poverty.  And most importantly, Big Oil would be forced to pay for climate chaos, and renewables would flourish so that Mother Earth wouldn’t be choking on oil fumes.

 

Max Obuszewski

 

Source URL: https://portside.org/2026-10-13/rise-and-fall-americas-most-tireless-socialistDonations 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