This September is the sixtieth anniversary of U.S. and Soviet ratification of the world’s first significant nuclear arms control agreement, the Partial Test Ban Treaty. Thus, it’s an appropriate time to examine that treaty, as well as to consider what might be done to end the danger of nuclear annihilation. Although the use, in 1945, … Continue reading “From the Partial Test Ban Treaty to a Nuclear Weapons-Free World”
Lawrence Wittner
Lawrence Wittner is professor of history at the State University of New York/Albany and a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus. His latest book is Confronting the Bomb: A Short History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement (Stanford University Press).
Gambling With Armageddon: Nuclear Roulette From Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis
The development and the deployment of nuclear weapons are usually based on the assumption that they enhance national security. But, in fact, as this powerful study of nuclear policy convincingly demonstrates, nuclear weapons move nations toward the brink of destruction. The basis for this conclusion is the post-World War II nuclear arms race and, especially, … Continue reading “Gambling With Armageddon: Nuclear Roulette From Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis”
Baby Teeth Collected Six Decades Ago Will Reveal the Damage to Americans’ Health Caused by US Nuclear Weapons Tests
In 2020, Harvard University’s T. C. Chan School of Public Health began a five-year study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, that will examine the connection between early life exposure to toxic metals and later-life risk of neurological disease. A collaborator with Harvard, the Radiation and Public Health Project, will analyze the relationship of … Continue reading “Baby Teeth Collected Six Decades Ago Will Reveal the Damage to Americans’ Health Caused by US Nuclear Weapons Tests”
Lesley Blume’s Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World
In this crisply written, well-researched book, Lesley Blume, a journalist and biographer, tells the fascinating story of the background to John Hersey’s pathbreaking article “Hiroshima,” and of its extraordinary impact upon the world. In 1945, although only 30 years of age, Hersey was a very prominent war correspondent for Time magazine – a key part … Continue reading “Lesley Blume’s Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World“
The Fateful Choice: Nuclear Arms Race or Nuclear Weapons-Free World
The recent announcement by the British government that it plans a 40 percent increase in the number of nuclear weapons it possesses highlights the escalation of the exceptionally dangerous and costly nuclear arms race. After decades of progress in reducing nuclear arsenals through arms control and disarmament agreements, all the nuclear powers are once again … Continue reading “The Fateful Choice: Nuclear Arms Race or Nuclear Weapons-Free World”
China and the United States Could Avoid an Unnecessary War
Although few Americans seem to have noticed, China and the United States are currently on a collision course – one that could easily lead to war. Their dispute, which has reached the level of military confrontation, concerns control of the South China Sea. For many years, China has claimed sovereignty over 90 percent of this … Continue reading “China and the United States Could Avoid an Unnecessary War”
Making America Feared Again: The Trump Administration Considers Resuming Nuclear Weapons Testing
Americans who grew up with nightmares of nuclear weapons explosions should get ready for some terrifying flashbacks, for the Trump administration appears to be preparing to resume U.S. nuclear weapons tests. The US government stopped its atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons in 1962, shortly before signing the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963. And it … Continue reading “Making America Feared Again: The Trump Administration Considers Resuming Nuclear Weapons Testing”
Let Them Eat Weapons: Trump’s Bizarre Arms Race
In late May of this year, President Donald Trump’s special envoy for arms control bragged before a Washington think tank that the U.S. government was prepared to outspend Russia and China to win a new nuclear arms race. “The president has made clear that we have a tried and true practice here,” he remarked. “We … Continue reading “Let Them Eat Weapons: Trump’s Bizarre Arms Race”
Will the Coronavirus Pandemic Help Curb War and Militarism?
Decades ago, when I began teaching international history, I used to ask students if they thought it was possible for nations to end their fighting of wars against one another. Their responses varied. But the more pessimistic conclusions were sometimes tempered by the contention that, if the world’s nations faced a common foe, such as … Continue reading “Will the Coronavirus Pandemic Help Curb War and Militarism?”
Americans Are Ready for a Different Approach to Nuclear Weapons
Although today’s public protests against nuclear weapons can’t compare to the major antinuclear upheavals of past decades, there are clear indications that most Americans reject the Trump administration’s nuclear weapons policies. Since entering office in 2017, the Trump administration has withdrawn the United States from the nuclear agreement with Iran, scrapped the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces … Continue reading “Americans Are Ready for a Different Approach to Nuclear Weapons”