I. The Folly of Resuming Nuclear Testing
"The Annual General Meeting (AMG) of the Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons [held] on May 23, unanimously adopted a statement condemning recent reports of White House discussions to resume nuclear weapons testing. As a result of the Covid-9 pandemic, Abolition 2000 had to take the unprecedented step of holding its AGM online, allowing participants from some 40 countries to join.
The statement warns that resumed US testing of nuclear weapons would inevitably lead to resumption of testing by other nations. Such testing would, in any case, be in contravention of e Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, signed by the United States in 1996, yet pending entry-into-force.
John Burroughs, Executive Director of the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, and one of the statement's drafters, said, 'Testing of nuclear weapons evokes nuclear apocalypse, as in the days of US-Soviet brinksmanship. It must not be resumed. At the same time, we must recognize that the capabilities for apocalypse remain in place, and are being maintained and improved in the absence of nuclear explosive testing. This too must be brought to an end. ' "
"Daniel Ellsberg, former US nuclear war planner. and famed whistleblower of the Pentagon Papers,said, 'Renewed nuclear testing initiated by the US would enable India, Pakistan and North Korea to test and develop 'H-bomb' thermonuclear warheads, which the existing moratorium on testing has prevented them from destroying. They could then join the US and Russia in threatening the world with the capability to cause nuclear winter, global famine, and near-extinction of humanity. Obviously, no nation on earth should possess this power. Rather than inviting its spread, the US and Russia should neither maintain nor 'modernize' but dismantle their own Doomsday Machines.'
Jackie Cabasso, Executive Director of Western States Legal Foundation,and a founding mother of Abolition 2000, said, '25 years ago, we launched the Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons with an 11-point statement, which includes a call to abolish all forms of nuclear testing. For more than a quarter of a century the moratorium on full-scale explosive nuclear testing has been largely adhered to. US resumption of such tests at this time would rock the foundations of an increasingly fragile world order, and would set back efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons by decades. It must not be allowed.' "
II. "Blundering Toward Nuclear Chaos"
"A second report, "Blundering Toward Nuclear Chaos: The Trump Administration After Three Years," published by the American Policy Initiative (ANTI), an independent project of Global Zero,takes a sweeping look at how the the U.S.is navigating the complex nuclear landscape under the undisciplined and unpredictable rule of Donald Trump.
Calling for broad changes, the report's authors present a disturbing triptych of instability, inexperience and incompetence,making a powerful case for the urgent need to correct and redirect the U.S.'s approach to nuclear weapons policy.
Beginning with U.S.-Russia relations, and continuing with critiques of Trump's approach to Iran, North Korea, China, modernization, nonproliferation and other critical nuclear matters, the report is a sober, even-tempered assessment of an administration led by a temperamental bull in a nuclear china shop.
The report describes 'growing nuclear instability and the accelerating arms race between Russia and the United States' as among the 'most pressing and consequential' nuclear challenges facing the U.S. today. "
"In its relations with Iran and North Korea, the administration has taken strikingly different approaches -- 'maximum pressure' and confrontation with Iran and, in the case of North Korea, threats to 'totally destroy' the country, followed by highly choreographed summits and Trump's declaration that 'there is no longer a nuclear threat' from the North. In both cases,however, Trump's approach has failed to produce concrete steps toward denuclearization.
The report's authors note that Trump takes pride in rejecting traditional approaches to domestic and foreign policy challenges, resulting in increased tension between the administration and policy makers who have invested decades in protecting U.S. interests.
The authors also closely examine how Trump has played a disruptive --even destructive -- role in dismantling international agreements and nuclear treaties, most notably the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [on the] Iran nuclear deal, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, while acting in a manner that runs counter to arms control and nonproliferation.
The report explains why the U.S. is likely to continue rejecting Russian overtures to extend the last major U.S.-Russia bilateral nuclear agreement, the New START Treaty, set to expire in February 2021. The Trump administration insists the treaty should be renegotiated to include China, which has just over 300 nuclear weapons (compared with Russia and the U.S.,which have an estimated 6,370 and 5,8000 respectively).
Trump's rejection of extending New START appears all but certain, especially following the recent announcement by the Trump administration that it was planning to abandon the nearly three-decade old Open Skies Treaty. The treaty allows 34 party nations to carry out reconnaissance fights in the interest of transparency and the prevention of misunderstanding that could lead to war."
Footnotes:
[1] Drafters of the Abolition 2000 statement were John Burroughs, Daniel Ellsberg, and Andrew Lichterman, Senior Research Analyst,Western States Legal Foundation. The statement was released on May 23, 2020.
[2] "Trump Boosts Nuclear Spending, Fully Funding New Arms Race," Truthout, May 30, 2020.
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