I cannot adequately tell the story of part one. I was not even conceived when it took place. Beyond my lifetime, in days of old, the "world powers" had faced off and decided that mutually assured destruction would help the world to be at peace. The dawning of the nuclear age created many mad men, the likes of which the cameras were never pointed at. We are, encouraged to not look too closely at Einstein's horror when he realized the awesome destructive power that his E=mc2 equation would unleash on humanity. The millions of people exposed to radiation, the billions of organisms obliterated from earth. Whoever the first person to imagine vaporization of the "enemy" was, woe to the rest of the planet. How others were cajoled into believing that an entire nation could remain morally superior while simultaneously threatening all of humanity on the entire planet is beyond me.
However, we are writing part two today. In my lifetime, we will either turn away from mutually assured destruction, absolutely, completely, forever, or we will continue to live under the black cloud of threat that nuclear weapons create amongst all people of the entire world. The "concerns" that terrorists world wide like to point to are the possibility that a rogue state will have nuclear capability. not the terrorists that we are told to believe in, but the "big ones". The U. S., primarily. Only a tiny few think that Iran would be stupid enough to launch nuclear warheads at their enemy. Their entire country could be obliterated within minutes if they tried that sort of thing. Those who control the vast majority of the world's nukes would not hesitate a moment to quell that sort of threat. The fact is that every country who overtly said that they would pursue the nuclear "option", has warheads within a few years. The fact that Iran made a big deal out of finally being able to refine medical grade radioactive material leads most who understand the process to realize that weapons are not being pursued by Iran.
Think, for one moment about the vast amounts of energy that must be expended to spin hundreds of centrifuges for years. Like going swimming with a millstone tied around your neck, the last thing Iran needs is a giant hole in their electric grid, sucking, sucking, sucking power day and night, for years. The "classified" nature of much of the information about nuclear weapons is a joke. I could explain with relatively precise detail, the procedure, the percentages of yield of fissionable material from high grade ore, etc. Rest assured that without massive subsidy and economy crashing investment, such undertakings are highly unlikely, especially in a country that is experiencing effective sanctions from the rest of the world. Those parties interested in keeping to the status quo have exhibited no moral character, the powerful interests that push for ever more ridiculous scenarios to be prepared for and ever more subsidy to the pursuit of out of scale responses to non-existent threats have secured an additional 80 billion dollars for the development of a new generation of nuclear devices. The old ones, and the waste that has been created by them will burden our economy forever, but we are unwilling to face the truth of this deadly path.
In times that have the lowest violence rates calculated since the beginning of recorded history, living within the parameters of a lie needs to stop. The truth about nuclear energy and nuclear weapons needs to be understood and considered well before we succumb to the fear and lies that gobble money and spit out death. If you have a child, a grandchild, or know someone who does. Try to look them in the eye and tell them truthfully that you are willing to sacrifice them for the pursuit of "national security". We are all victims of the nuclear age. It is estimated that over 400,000 premature deaths are still occurring annually worldwide because of our nuclear heritage. We are still going to be living with this burden in thousands of years, if humans are still here. When will we stop the subsidy of the death industry and demand that our leaders protect our rights to clean air, clean water, and unadulterated soils? When? The death industry has compromised all of these. Yet we continue to do business with them through the taxes we pay. When will we learn that it is not productive to spend money on anyone's destruction? Most importantly our own!
However, we are writing part two today. In my lifetime, we will either turn away from mutually assured destruction, absolutely, completely, forever, or we will continue to live under the black cloud of threat that nuclear weapons create amongst all people of the entire world. The "concerns" that terrorists world wide like to point to are the possibility that a rogue state will have nuclear capability. not the terrorists that we are told to believe in, but the "big ones". The U. S., primarily. Only a tiny few think that Iran would be stupid enough to launch nuclear warheads at their enemy. Their entire country could be obliterated within minutes if they tried that sort of thing. Those who control the vast majority of the world's nukes would not hesitate a moment to quell that sort of threat. The fact is that every country who overtly said that they would pursue the nuclear "option", has warheads within a few years. The fact that Iran made a big deal out of finally being able to refine medical grade radioactive material leads most who understand the process to realize that weapons are not being pursued by Iran.
Think, for one moment about the vast amounts of energy that must be expended to spin hundreds of centrifuges for years. Like going swimming with a millstone tied around your neck, the last thing Iran needs is a giant hole in their electric grid, sucking, sucking, sucking power day and night, for years. The "classified" nature of much of the information about nuclear weapons is a joke. I could explain with relatively precise detail, the procedure, the percentages of yield of fissionable material from high grade ore, etc. Rest assured that without massive subsidy and economy crashing investment, such undertakings are highly unlikely, especially in a country that is experiencing effective sanctions from the rest of the world. Those parties interested in keeping to the status quo have exhibited no moral character, the powerful interests that push for ever more ridiculous scenarios to be prepared for and ever more subsidy to the pursuit of out of scale responses to non-existent threats have secured an additional 80 billion dollars for the development of a new generation of nuclear devices. The old ones, and the waste that has been created by them will burden our economy forever, but we are unwilling to face the truth of this deadly path.
In times that have the lowest violence rates calculated since the beginning of recorded history, living within the parameters of a lie needs to stop. The truth about nuclear energy and nuclear weapons needs to be understood and considered well before we succumb to the fear and lies that gobble money and spit out death. If you have a child, a grandchild, or know someone who does. Try to look them in the eye and tell them truthfully that you are willing to sacrifice them for the pursuit of "national security". We are all victims of the nuclear age. It is estimated that over 400,000 premature deaths are still occurring annually worldwide because of our nuclear heritage. We are still going to be living with this burden in thousands of years, if humans are still here. When will we stop the subsidy of the death industry and demand that our leaders protect our rights to clean air, clean water, and unadulterated soils? When? The death industry has compromised all of these. Yet we continue to do business with them through the taxes we pay. When will we learn that it is not productive to spend money on anyone's destruction? Most importantly our own!
No comments:
Post a Comment