The Revolution Continues blog is news, views, opinion and other expressions of hope from a leftist point-of-view. (We are not affiliated with any candidate, political party or organization. All are welcome.)
The anniversaries of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and August 9, 1945) pass by most Westerners’ consciousness without notice. The dates aren’t printed on any calendars I have like “Memorial Day” or “Presidents’ Day” are, labeled in big, bright capital letters. The week the first atom bombs were dropped on civilians is not a bank holiday anywhere as far as I know.
The anniversary is mostly remembered by the children of the survivors and a handful of international peace organizations. The one event that should have motivated humankind to turn around and go in a better direction is the one event we seem to care the least about. We neither care to remember it and learn from it nor honor it and promise ourselves we’ll never do it again.
I have to admit that if GPAX, the Green Party Peace Action Committee, hadn’t presented “Never Again!” a very informative webinar on August 6, I’d probably would have forgotten about humanity’s fall from innocence, too. Yes, humankind is guilty of the sin of unleashing the power of the atom, the genie that cannot be put back inside the bottle once it has escaped. All life on Earth will never be the same again.
No one born since those early August days in 1945 has ever lived in a world without manmade nuclear radiation effecting them, either directly through an nuclear warhead detonation, or from being shot with depleted uranium coated bullets, or from the fallout leaking from a nuclear power plant that has suffered a “mishap” like Fukushima, or even from a simple rain shower. Manmade radiation has become a permanent part of our ecosystem for the worse, not better.
No one born since then has ever known a world where life as we know it could be wiped out in a matter of minutes if one or more nuclear powers decide to launch their nuclear weapons. This knowledge should keep us awake nights, but the majority of us seem okay living day-to-day in such a terrifying world.
Could it be we really don’t want peace? Could it be that we’d rather live with the threat of imminent Mutually Assured Destruction than to give up our creature comforts and affordable lifestyles in the West? Could it be Americans enjoy the hegemony we’ve gained through the threat of dropping H-bombs on your country if it doesn’t “cooperate” and give us what we want? (This means you, Venezuela and Iran. Hand over your oil or else!)
Or could it be I’m over-exaggerating the threat of our potential demise? Could I be minimizing the numbers of activists who are actively fighting to shut the war machine down? I don’t think so...
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Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) --The threat of massive retaliation using nuclear weapons should a potential enemy use them first, both sides being annihilated in the event of war. --Wiktionary
Mutually Assured Destruction 2.0 (MAD 2.0)–The same as above, only this time artificial intelligence technology (AI) plays a dominant role in humanity’s self-annihilation. —C.A.M.
Growing up in the second half of the twentieth century had its challenges. I don’t remember where or when I first learned about the Cold War or the Red Scare, but I recall by the time I hit fourth grade I knew that the “Commies” were to be feared. Why? The Reds had weapons called nuclear bombs, and if they ever decided to drop one or more on the US, that would be the end of me and my family.
A little later in my schooling, I found out that the US also possessed nuclear weapons. In fact we were the first and only country to ever use them on another country, destroying the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This knowledge created a conundrum. Were Americans the “baddies” in this situation for dropping nuclear bombs on Japan—especially for bombing civilians?
I remember learning about “Mutually Assured Destruction” in a high school current events class. My teacher didn’t seem overly concerned, but he didn’t seem too excited about “MAD” as it was nicknamed, either. MAD really was mad or crazy, I came to realize. Who in their right mind would think stockpiling nuclear weapons in order to scare other countries from attacking you—while they in turn stockpile the same kind of weapons—is a good game to play? It makes no sense to me to this day.
Flash forward to last weekend. I attended a workshop entitled, “The AI War Machine: Traditional vs. AI Warfare,” at the Green Party’s Annual National Meeting. The Greens’ motto is “people, planet and peace.” So, what has AI got to do with people, the planet, or making and keeping the peace? Plenty!
If there were AI controlled fighter drones in 1945, would the US have stopped their nuke bombing after only two cities? One reason the US didn’t continued was because human beings flew the planes. Those who witnessed the atomic bombs explode over Hiroshima or Nagasaki found it an awesome experience—meaning they were filled with awe at the tremendous power they had unleashed. It brings up the thought, “Have we gone too far?” Over the decades, more and more have expressed fear, horror, sadness, and regret about what these two atomic bombings did to our fellow human beings.
That’s not a problem if you’re an operator of a “Fury drone”, an AI controlled fighter drone currently manufactured in Pickaway County, Ohio, just south of Columbus. In the 21st century one lone operator can remotely operate an entire fleet of these “Top Gun” drones. Once over the target, the AI pulls the trigger or drops the bomb as programmed, causing massive death and destruction below.
Little to no guilt, fear, horror, or sadness is generated because there’s only one person handling all the dirty work. This person is more than likely located thousands of miles away from the war zone. They might never see video or evidence of the havoc they’ve wreaked. They might never feel the need to express regret or horror at their actions.
Isn’t advanced military technology great?
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The world will never know peace as long as war is profitable. The world
will never know health as long as sickness is profitable. The ecosystem
will never thrive as long as ecocide is profitable. We will remain ruled
by tyrants for as long as our systems elevate tyranny. --Caitlin Johnstone, All Our Systems Are Built To Elevate Viciousness
There are mass die-offs of trees, plants, and animals due to rising temperatures and the subsequent droughts and fires that ensue.
The sea levels are rising because of melting ice sheets at the poles, causing flooding and drowning entire island chains.
There are many who shout racist-elitist taunts at the migrants fleeing from natural disasters and violent conflicts caused by our rapidly warming planet and our economic system's insatiable need to overthrow any leaders who don't do business on our country's terms.
There is another pandemic on the horizon with the emergence of the monkeypox virus in the US. With no universal health care, possibly another million plus Americans will suffer and die from a preventable illness. (The current rate is 400+ COVID-19 deaths per day and an untold number of people suffering permanent disability from Long COVID.)
There are politicians spouting nonsense about "winnable nuclear war" as if radiation faded away mere hours after dropping a nuke bomb. These same politicians continue to militarize the police, an unspoken threat against the working classes to stay in their designated place. The politicians' military industrial complex donors are happy with this outcome.
There are those who still think nuclear power is "clean energy" even after the disasters of Chernobyl, Fukushima, and others. They are doing their best to prevent cleaner sources of energy such as solar, wind and geothermal from ever becoming a part of our power grid, as a recent bill passed in Congress and praised by the fossil fuel industry demonstrates.
What is the key element winding its way through all these seemingly unrelated abuses of our planet, its peoples, and all its creatures? If you said "money" or more accurately "the love of money" then you win today's prize. The prize is that you get to die knowing how these man-made insults to Mother Earth were entirely preventable.
(Watch the documentary 2040 to learn how current technology can address all the above challenges. They're not unsolvable problems. We are capable of affecting positive changes to save the planet, but we have to be willing to do so and we need to start today.)
The love of money, or profits, if you will, is selling humankind's destiny down the river of greed in order to make a few more billionaires even richer. Why any person needs incalculable wealth to survive when the rest of us get by on mere pittances is a mystery to me. I don't know about you, but this obsession billionaires have with accruing more and more digits in their bank account ledgers just makes me angrier and angrier.
Time is running out for our dear Mother Earth. We've seen the effects of climate catastrophe speeding up this summer in heatwave after sweltering heatwave. Some say we've gone beyond the point of no return. And all because these billionaire tyrants can't make enough money to satisfy their lusts. They are obsessed with "growing the economy" while gouging workers for basic necessities like food, medicine, and shelter. These greedy tyrants can't get enough until they destroy all the beautiful diversity of life on this planet.
Will somebody--anybody--make it stop? Please.
If our dying world and our empty bellies can't motivate us lowly workers to stand up for ourselves and the planet, then what will? We've been terrorized by tyrants using a sadistic economic system called capitalism for far too long. To save Earth and humanity, capitalism must die. It must die and be replaced with a kinder, gentler system that treats everyone and every living thing with the respect and dignity he/she/they/it deserves.
Will taking the reins away from the tyrants now in control be easy? No. Will it possibly cost us some of our lives in the struggle? Yes. But we have no choice--our planet is being destroyed by sadistic psychopaths. Psychopaths who can't see the forest for the trees since they've chopped all the trees down to print more useless currency!
It would be wonderful if the tyrants of the 1% came down off their thrones and gave the 99% the keys to the kingdom, but don't count on it. If they've convinced their politician-puppets to spout nonsense about the benefits of nuclear warfare, and how justice can be found in increasing policing and military agencies to take up arms against us, then we must be prepared to deal swiftly and strongly with shutting these monsters down.
We can't wait, hoping and praying these tyrannical psychopaths will come to their senses and learn to be empathetic. Odds are they never will. We can't risk what is left of our Earth still able to harbor life.
It's life or death for our world. I vote for the death of the tyrants and their capitalist system so that the vast majority of us may live. Live in peace and harmony together with nature--not constantly fighting against Our Mother Earth in order to acquire huge sums of meaningless money.
We've only got one planet. Let's do what needs to be done. Let's take good care of her so she will continue to take care of our children and grandchildren in the future. Don't allow the tyrants--bent on destruction to slake their thirst for blood money--stand in our way.
This observation is SO much more scary coming from Kissinger than from a peace advocate speaking from outside the belly of the empire. If the empire's warmongering is so crazy and reckless that it's frightening a 99 year-old Henry Kissinger, it's REALLY crazy and reckless. https://t.co/WUGP3mvEJs
Capitalists just made up the idea that a low minimum wage is there for young people to get work experience and Americans just swallowed that propaganda without thinking about it for even a second and then vomited it back up onto the rest of us for decades.
— Brutal Regime Apocalyptic Dreams (@brutal_regime) August 15, 2022
Why is health care even a debate? Why is housing ppl even a debate? Why is clean water even a debate? Why is saving our planet even a debate? Why is protecting our most vulnerable even a debate? Why are human rights even a debate? Why is social responsibility a fn debate?!
Sometimes I'm not sure what presents a greater threat to humanity, nuclear war or the colossal stupidity that has made it possible. --Caitlin Johnstone
Manufacturing Consent for the Apocalypse
by C.A. Matthews
Many online bloggers and podcasters have been posting stories this week about when they first learned of the horrors of nuclear war. I'm not going to scare you with gory, nightmarish details from my dreams. I'm perhaps different in that my childhood experience of discovering the mystery of nuclear war is fairly benign, and it happened about twenty years earlier than most others.
I remember a simple black and white commercial that pictured a little blond girl of about four or five years of age. The little girl resembled me, so I felt an instant identification with her. She is shown playing in an open field, picking daisies and counting the petals, a pastime that I also enjoyed doing. All of a sudden there's a big bright flash and some clouds and the little girl is simply gone. Vanished. Disappeared. Then there are some words saying something about LBJ and the commercial ends.
That's pretty much how I remember it. At the time I had no frame of reference to understand what had happened to the little blond girl, but it was worrying. She was playing with daisy petals and then she disappeared, possibly because of a big bright flash in the sky. Did her mommy and daddy ever find her? Did her entire family and her cat and dog and bunny rabbit disappear as well? It was only years later that I realized this political ad had an anti-nuke message.
I started having nightmares about nuclear fallout during the Reagan era. Every time Reagan mentioned the "Evil Empire" I
got the chills and recalled the little blond girl ad. Reagan seemed set
on goading the then Soviet Union into unleashing their nuclear missiles
onto the United States. He didn't seemed overly concerned about them
starting a chain reaction and creating a "nuclear winter," either. The
nuclear apocalypse was graphically demonstrated in several movies
released about this time to add to my nightmares. (The Day After and Testament
were the most talked about films of 1983.) The message they gave was
clear: Radiation and the aftermath of nuclear attack would extinguish
all life on the planet, including life in the suburbs.
Of course, by this time I also had learned about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the H-bomb testings in the Pacific, and the radiation leaks from nuclear reactors at Three Mile Island and then Chernobyl. Fictional scenarios about nuclear war aren't half as frightening as watching documentary films and reading about human beings experiencing the real thing. Any intelligent, compassionate person wouldn't wish this kind of suffering on anyone else.
And yet… the United States' government has kept its nuclear arsenal intact and has built more warheads and refurbished them in recent times. It hasn't shut down its aging, inefficient nuclear plants and replaced them with safer power alternatives such as solar panels and wind turbines. It continues to posture and poke at other nuclear powers through direct or proxy armed conflicts whenever it sees something it likes (or doesn't like), very much like a toddler who can't use his words to ask nicely for what he wants.
Our government officials never act worried that one day nuclear weapons might be used by accident or by design, destroying all life on Earth in one big bright flash in the sky. Perhaps that's because they know where Dr. Strangelove's radiation blast-proof tunnels are located under Washington DC? Perhaps they've made reservations on a flying saucer--or with Jeff Bezos--for a ride off the planet in case of nuclear Armageddon?
Let's be honest here. Our government officials don't care about you or me or the little blond girl playing in the daisy field as long as they've got their own asses covered.
And now it has gone a step further. Our government wants ordinary Americans like you, me and the little blond girl to cheer on a proxy war over shutting down a liquid natural gas pipeline by encouraging direct military engagement by NATO with a nuclear super power. You probably know which one I'm talking about. It's the country the US promised in 1991 that we wouldn't ring in with NATO bases, but with the help of other NATO countries we have. The witless American public is instructed to demand a no-fly zone over Ukraine so we can possibly ignite this proxy war into an active war between nuclear powers, a World War III.
Keep your eyes peeled for the big flash of light in the sky, folks!
The US government certainly seems eager to bring about the Apocalypse. What could be so special about Ukraine that our government is willing to manufacture consent in its citizens to support a possible nuclear conflict, to do the unspeakable? Why has the mainstream media drummed up such an intense hatred for all things Russian in such a way that ordinary people in the West are cheering for nuclear annihilation?
Journalist Sara Founder sheds light on the possible motivation:
Why is EU/Russian trade and integration so threatening to US imperialism?
The EU is the biggest investor in Russia. A new and larger double
pipeline, called Nord Stream 2, was built to carry cheap natural gas
from Russia through the Baltic Sea and into Europe. It was supposed to
provide fuel for EU industries and heat for millions of homes, while
avoiding a reliance on high-polluting coal and oil. German Chancellor
Olaf Scholz suspended the project Feb. 22.
Energy comes to 62% of the EU imports from Russia. It costs much less
than gas from the US, which is the largest exporter of fracked LNG
gas. This is a challenge to opening new markets. With war and sanctions,
US gas and oil corporations will immediately profit from skyrocketing
prices for fuel and guarantee their future control of the European
market.
The clash is larger than just a gas pipeline. The US economy is
focused on military production. It is the largest exporter of weapons
systems. But US imperialism is unable to match China’s Belt and Road
development plans. More than 138 countries have signed on for new ports,
railroads, industrial hubs and low-interest loans.
China’s Belt and Road development loans are far more attractive than
US weapons systems and the harsh austerity plans that are attached to
IMF and World Bank loans. --Sara Flounders, US Threatens Nuclear War Or Sanctions
This blurb caught online gives some more insight into what makes Ukraine "special" to warmongering capitalists:
For those who ask: "Why does Ukraine matter?" This is why Ukraine matters. It is the second largest country by area in Europe by area and has a population of over 40 million - more than Poland. Ukraine ranks: 1st in Europe in proven recoverable reserves of uranium ores; 2nd place in Europe and 10th place in the world in terms of titanium ore reserves; 2nd place in the world in terms of explored reserves of manganese ores (2.3 billion tons, or 12% of the world's reserves); 2nd largest iron ore reserves in the world (30 billion tons); 2nd place in Europe in terms of mercury ore reserves; 3rd place in Europe (13th place in the world) in shale gas reserves (22 trillion cubic meters) 4th in the world by the total value of natural resources; 7th place in the world in coal reserves (33.9 billion tons) Ukraine is an important agricultural country: 1st in Europe in terms of arable land area; 3rd place in the world by the area of black soil (25% of world's volume); 1st place in the world in exports of sunflower and sunflower oil; 2nd place in the world in barley production and 4th place in barley exports; 3rd largest producer and 4th largest exporter of corn in the world; 4th largest producer of potatoes in the world; 5th largest rye producer in the world; 5th place in the world in bee production (75,000 tons); 8th place in the world in wheat exports; 9th place in the world in the production of chicken eggs; 16th place in the world in cheese exports. Ukraine can meet the food needs of 600 million people. Ukraine is an important industrialized country: 1st in Europe in ammonia production; Europe's 2nd’s and the world’s 4th largest natural gas pipeline system; 3rd largest in Europe and 8th largest in the world in terms of installed capacity of nuclear power plants; 3rd place in Europe and 11th in the world in terms of rail network length (21,700 km); 3rd place in the world (after the U.S. and France) in production of locators and locating equipment; 3rd largest iron exporter in the world 4th largest exporter of turbines for nuclear power plants in the world; 4th world's largest manufacturer of rocket launchers; 4th place in the world in clay exports 4th place in the world in titanium exports 8th place in the world in exports of ores and concentrates; 9th place in the world in exports of defense industry products; 10th largest steel producer in the world (32.4 million tons)
And this bit of info ties it altogether:
That the U.S./NATO-instigated war in Ukraine could result in a third
world war is of major concern for all of humanity, especially workers
and oppressed people who ultimately bear the brunt of any war. Yet for
some global billionaires — today’s ‘masters of war’ — this conflict is
seen as an opportunity to further boost profits.
Among those already reaping gains are companies involved in the
production and sale of weapons, planes and other military hardware. This
includes 14 of the world’s 20 largest “defense” companies headquartered
in the US Topping this list are Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Raytheon
Technologies, which had combined arms sales in 2019 nearing $100
billion. --Betsey Piette, Lockheed and Raytheon--Today's Masters of War
It's obvious. It's pure greed along with pure arrogance on their parts to think that they--the government officials, the billionaires and their lackeys--can survive a nuclear conflict, and it will be well worth it to their bank accounts in the end.
Don't give your consent to this sickness of disaster capitalism. Don't let ordinary Ukrainians and Russians suffer anymore for the greed of the fossil fuel billionaires worldwide who are squabbling over a natural gas pipeline. Just say no to all wars and yes to ending this conflict before it's too late for every living creature on this planet.
Don't be fooled into following these malevolent, selfish fools down the road to radioactive hell.
P.S. And xenophobic, knee-jerk reactions like this don't help either:
Putin is bad so Yuri Gagarin didn't go to space and Tchaikovsky wasn't a good composer and Dostoevsky
was a lousy writer and Sputnik was designed by Lockheed Martin and
Anton Chekhov was Welsh and Khabib Nurmagomedov was born in Minnesota. -- Caitlin Johnstone
Zelensky banned 11 opposition parties and every news channel except for one, but he hasn’t banned the Azov neo-nazi battalion. Tells you everything you need to know about Democrat’s new “hero.”
Just had a nightmare where the President of The United States and the Speaker Of The House were both bent on WWIII and also too out of their minds to speak coherently.
So basically media & our government want us to believe that in order to be opposed to the war in Ukraine, you have to support sending missiles & guns to the war & putting us all at the brink of nuclear war??
What is more likely: US politicians really caring about Ukrainians or US politicians using Ukrainians as cannon fodder to feed the military industrial complex?
The Ukrainian people are cannon fodder in this proxy war between the US and Russia. ...If you don't understand that sentence, then you have been too thoroughly indoctrinated by mainstream media & US government propaganda.
Do We Really Want Peace?
