The arguments today about Hiroshima and Nagasaki miss the most important facts about Allied decision-making in mid-1945. Britain's wartime leader, Winston Churchill, believed - in mid-1945 - that the Second World War could be ended without the use of the atomic bomb.
At the urging of US and British military commanders, Churchill lobbied the US president, Harry Truman, to try other methods which he thought could end the Pacific War. The nuclear terror attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki…
Since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, almost every US president has threatened or prepared to initiate nuclear war. Leading US peace campaigner Dr Joseph Gerson explains how the US uses nuclear weapons to preserve its global empire, making more than 20 threats of nuclear attack during the Cold War – against Russia, China, Vietnam, and countries in the Middle East.
US nuclear threats continued under US presidents George Bush Sr, Bill Clinton, and George W Bush and…
Last year, there was a 62 percent jump in planned spending by the defence nuclear organisation (DNO) over the next 10 years on equipment related to British nuclear weapons. That’s according a government national audit office (NAO) report published in December, comparing 10-year spending plans published in 2022 and 2023.
The DNO is responsible for most British nuclear weapons equipment acquisition, including the development of new ‘Dreadnought’ submarines to replace Trident.
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The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is trying to block the planned deployment of new US nuclear weapons at USAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, England.
CND is using planning law to challenge related development works at Lakenheath on the grounds that the ministry of defence (MoD) and West Suffolk council have not assessed the environmental impact of a planned 144-bed dormitory or the possible effects of stationing nuclear weapons at the airbase.
More info, plus resources for CND…
Concise, accessible and well-referenced, this is a wonderful book about a protest I wasn’t previously aware of.
Vincent J Intondi, professor of history at Montgomery College in Maryland, USA, sets the scene: surrounded by ‘advisors who believed nuclear war was a reasonable option to deal with adversaries’ in the early 1980s newly-elected US president Ronald Reagan massively increased both military spending and his warmongering rhetoric.
In response, the anti-nuclear movement,…
In August, Bristol CND and XR Peace Bristol organised their fourth four-day Peace Gathering in the Peace Glade in Castle Park, Bristol, with over 20 talks, workshops and discussions – and die-ins to mark the atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945.
Included in the Gathering was part of an International Fast to Commemorate Hiroshima-Nagasaki.
Fasters in Bristol included Matthias Engelke from Germany (a Lutheran pastor who has vowed…
In August, there were over 20 arrests at Volkel airbase in the southern Netherlands, home to 15 US nuclear bombs.
On 8 August, 10 climate activists and peace activists were arrested after climbing over the fence and protesting on the runway.
On 9 August, 15 protestors were arrested after picking up pink spades with the intention of digging under the fence, to create a more accessible route to protest inside the base.
The arrested, all released the same day, came from…
A Citizens Weapons Inspection (CWI) team from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) gathered outside USAF Lakenheath on 23 September, with the aim of searching the base for nuclear weapons.
This followed growing evidence that the US air force is priming Lakenheath for the deployment of the new B61-12 guided nuclear bomb as part of a mass upgrade of US nuclear infrastructure in Europe.
The inspection was part of a nationwide day of action against US nuclear weapons in…
On 19 September, the Bahamas officially signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), sending a signal of support, and Sri Lanka officially acceded to the treaty, meaning that it agreed to be bound by the TPNW, a much more serious step. (Usually countries ‘sign’ first and then ‘ratify’, but some countries skip the signing and go straight to the commitment level in one step: ‘accession’.)
This means that 97 states have now signed, ratified or acceded to the 2017…
The Hollywood blockbuster, Oppenheimer, is having a massive opening weekend as I write these words.
The central event of the film is the ‘Trinity’ test on 16 July 1945, when scientists set off the world’s first nuclear bomb.
One of the less well-known effects of the test was its shattering impact on the wartime British prime minister. Winston Churchill was told about Trinity while he was attending the Potsdam conference in Germany with US president Harry Truman and…
Some 30 years ago, a British defence secretary told the world that Britain wanted to be able to launch a ‘limited nuclear strike’ at an enemy in order to deliver ‘an unmistakable message’ of its willingness to defend its ‘vital interests’. That was Conservative MP Malcolm Rifkind, on 16 November 1993, admitting some nuclear ‘credibility’ problems.
His words become clearer if we turn back to the 1991 war on Iraq, where one of the big surprises was that the Iraqi dictator, Saddam…
The leaders of Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea attended the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, 11 – 12 July.
This underlined NATO’s growing involvement in the US military confrontation with China in ‘the Indo-Pacific’. The end-of-summit statement (the ‘communiqué’) said: ‘The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) stated ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, security and values.... We are working together responsibly,…
‘For 77 years, nuclear weapons have not been used at all. We should not allow the current situation to negate that history.’ – Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida, 28 April
‘We underscore the importance of the 77-year record of non-use of nuclear weapons.... Our security policies are based on the understanding that nuclear weapons, for as long as they exist, should serve defensive purposes, deter aggression and prevent war and coercion.’ – G7 leaders’ ‘Hiroshima…
On 22 May, the three-country AUKUS military alliance strengthened its anti-China presence in the Pacific when the US signed a new security pact with Papua New Guinea (PNG) which may open the door to AUKUS submarines using PNG facilities.
Under the terms of the AUKUS deal, royal navy submarines are due to make their first deployment to Australia in 2027.
In a recent briefing, USA, Australia Militarizing PNG, former Papua New Guinea foreign affairs officer Dominic Navue…
Hundreds of peace activists protested outside USAF Lakenheath in Suffolk on 20 May, demanding that the US keep its nuclear weapons out of Britain. Speakers included Reiner Braun from Germany, CND general secretary Kate Hudson, Guido van Leemput from the Netherlands, actor Michael Mears and CND chair Tom Unterrainer.
