Speaking of Dan Ellsberg, this article is a must-read, from The Nation, as attached below, as is another must-read Ellsberg article attached at bottom. But instead of seeking to “avoid Armageddon,” our saber rattling against Russia and China reveals a death wish to bring it on, given our military doctrine is to utilize “low-yield (ha ha) nukes” at the first sign that a battle may not go our way. Then it “Katy Bar the Door,” as they say :-(

https://www.thenation.com/article/world/eliminate-nuclear-missiles/

To Avoid Armageddon, Don’t Modernize Missiles—Eliminate Them

Land-based nuclear weapons are world-ending accident waiting to happen, and completely superfluous to a reliable deterrent.

By Daniel Ellsberg and Norman Solomon

OCTOBER 19, 2021

Begin forwarded message:

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Daniel Ellsberg
Date: Wed, Jan 12, 2022 at 2:16 PM
Subject: Eliminate the hair-triggers to the Doomsday Machine!
To:

Dear friends:

This won't happen (TP-referring to the article at the bottom), this year or anytime soon. Northrop Grumman's lobbyists will see that they don't lose this contract for the GBSD ("Ground Based Strategic Deterrent"--follow-on to our 400 Minuteman missiles, all of which risk global civilization. This has been a jobs program (i.e., profits and campaign donations program) for over half a century. True, almost any other use of the budget money--health, education, infrastructure--would involve far MORE jobs for the same money--but weapons of any kind are the only jobs program that Republicans will vote budget appropriations for.

Problem: this particular pork is the most dangerous, reckless, irresponsible, obscenely immoral program in human history. The launch-on-warning ICBM/GBSD program is the hair-trigger to our Doomsday Machine. (See my attachment from last year.)

Russians have the same--imitating ours since they "lost" the Cuban Missile Crisis--but we don't control theirs. Nor do they, reliably, for that matter! Any more than we do.

The Congresspersons who overwhelmingly vote for this, Republican and Democrat (except for the Progressive Caucus) have no idea what they're voting for: except for the jobs Northrop Grumman has thoughtfully located in most of their districts, and the campaign contributions that the more influential ones rely on.

So it goes. As on climate change. But at least we can put this, finally, on the agenda: long-term, though it should have been there, and acted on, any year in the last half century, or more.

Retweet or forward to your lists: or better, your Congressperson--first time they'll have heard the idea! Suggest they might consider voting for human survival. If you know a substantial campaign donor, best of all! As they say in DC, your representatives (ha) in Congress may not see the light, but they could feel the heat. It will take a while to turn up the heat on this one!

Love, Dan

--

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[Salon] Fwd: Eliminate the hair-triggers to the Doomsday Machine!

To Avoid Armageddon, Don’t Modernize Missiles—Eliminate Them

Land-based nuclear weapons are world-ending accident waiting to happen, and completely superfluous to a reliable deterrent.

By Daniel Ellsberg and Norman Solomon

OCTOBER 19, 2021