Kevin Martin

On Monday, the Pentagon announced the US will soon begin training the Ukrainian military in using howitzer artillery in an unnamed country. Presumably this will be in a NATO member state. If Russian intelligence found out where, might it attack to stop the howitzers from being deployed against Russian forces in Ukraine? Almost assuredly not, … Continue reading “With Humanity on the Brink, Should We Trust Deterrence Theory, or Disarmament?”

We have grown numb to the world resting on a razor’s edge of destruction. Climate catastrophe, pandemics, cyberwar and endless wars seem "normal" by now. However, the far more likely way civilization ends in the near future is one that receives shockingly little attention in the media or in our daily conversation. Nuclear war. We … Continue reading “A No-Nukes Strategy or a No-Win Reality”

On September 12, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo officially certified Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates "…are undertaking demonstrable actions to reduce the risk of harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure resulting from military operations of these governments."  This is required to allow U.S. planes to continue refueling jets for the Saudi/UAE coalition, without … Continue reading “US Support for the Bombing of Yemen To Continue, for Now”

History will be made this week with the summit meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. With a second summit between Kim and President Donald Trump looming in four to six weeks or so, it’s tempting to look past this first summit, but that would be a mistake. This … Continue reading “Diplomacy, Hope, and Inspiration in Korea”

The Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) released by the Trump Administration last week is self-perpetuation by the nuclear weapons establishment at its worst. It advocates astonishing increases in nuclear weapons, their funding, and the circumstances in which they might be employed, including, incredibly, in retaliation for cyber attacks. The estimated price tag to overhaul the entire … Continue reading “Trump’s Dangerous Nuclear Posture”

Poor Rex Tillerson. Secretary of State must have sounded like an awesome job to the former Chairman and CEO of Exxon/Mobil, it certainly would to most people. The massive pay cut must have given him at least some pause, as he made more than $25 million in 2016. Now he finds himself working for a … Continue reading “Capitalize on the Olympic Truce, Formalize a Freeze With North Korea”

President Donald Trump likes to be known for his deal-making, and now he has the opportunity to make deals that can impact world peace and security, not just real estate or other business deals for his profit. North Korea would be a great place to start. Former President Barack Obama described North Korea’s nuclear weapons … Continue reading “Trump Should Make a Deal With North Korea”

When Barack Obama was elected president, he hoped to eliminate nuclear weapons.  His hope (expressed in his visit to Hiroshima) is still to eliminate such weapons.  But that elimination never happens.  Almost a decade ago, four powerful retired politicians – Sam Nunn, George Shultz, Henry Kissinger, and William Perry – called for ending nuclear weapons. … Continue reading “We Refuse To Be Targets”

President Obama is considering a visit to Hiroshima during the G-7 economic summit in Japan later this month. Hiroshima is an impressively rebuilt, thriving city of a million people. The city was obliterated by the first atomic bomb, dropped by the United States on August 6, 1945, followed by the second bomb that devastated Nagasaki … Continue reading “President Obama Should Meet A-Bomb Survivors, and Heed Their Call To Ban the Bomb”

There is growing agreement among antiwar activists that the Bush administration’s two main political vulnerabilities on Iraq are personnel issues and the cost of the war. To the extent that we agree on this, we need to devise strategies and tactics that aim at those vulnerabilities. There is much good organizing on the first issue … Continue reading “Making Congress Listen”