It was as if the disaster in Japan had never happened. A French Nuclear conglomerate was about to begin construction of two huge reactors in southwest England. The British government suddenly did the right thing and put the project on hold - until the Fall.
The decision for a "fresh review" came from new PM Theresa May's office.
The NYTS reported, Friday July 29, that the "deal" was done. True, until the Prime Minister's office suddenly changed the green light to red.
Both opponents and supporters of the Nuke Plants had seen them as boosting the world-wide Nuclear Industry which had been in the doldrums since Fukushima.
Germany, for example, took all of its Nuke Reactors off-line in the wake of the Japanese disaster - a disaster that came very close to becoming catastrophic for residents of cities like Tokyo.
Critics attacked the new Nukes plan as a "risky route" to electricity generation. In addition to natural threats coupled with human error (Fukushima), we now have the ever-present possibility, even probability, of terrorism.
As widely reported - terrorists in France and Belgium had been spying on Nuclear Plants and their personnel. So why create more targets for them?
UK Greenpeace scientist, Doug Parr: "No one worries about terrorists crashing planes into wind farms."
NYTS
Not to speak of the creation of more enriched uranium and plutonium to add to the world's already dangerous oversupply. Japan itself has the capability to create thousands of nuclear bombs with the plutonium stockpiles already in its possession.
CLICK here
Critics also worry about Chinese investment and involvement in the project. Fears, unfounded or not, that they can/will infect the plants' computer system in order to "shut down Britain's energy production at will" - quote from PM May's Joint Chief of Staff.
CLICK
Backers of the project are confident that the British government will approve the plan this Fall. The situation bears watching!
ABOLITION IN OUR TIME
Summertime here in the U.S. Still, we are reminded that though we may "go away" on vacation, Nuclear Weapons never "go away".
They are the deadly baggage that we tote with us, sight unseen, on our plane, train, bus or car.
As noted here before - these Weapons of Annihilation are always with us. Every second of every hour of every day and every night.
And after 71 years of somehow avoiding Nuclear Armageddon, world leaders now talk of using them.
As reported by UK and U.S. news media, the UK's new Prime Minister, Theresa May, had hardly taken her "first among equals" seat in Parliament before issuing her very first official statement from the House of Commons - applauding the vote to maintain and modernize Britain's TRIDENT Nuclear Submarine force (472-117) despite polls indicating a divided public.
More worrisome and shocking, her answer to a question, on the record, from a Scottish National Party member:
"Are you prepared to authorise a nuclear strike that could kill hundreds of thousands of men, women and children?"
PM May had a one word answer: "YES."
No British Prime Minister in the Nuclear Weapons Era has ever made such an assertion.
Click herehttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/theresa-may-trident-debate-nuclear-bomb-yes-live-latest-news-a7143386.html
Corbyn, Labour Party Leader, countered:
"I do not believe that the threat of mass murder is a legitimate way to go about international relations. I'm not making a decision that kills millions of innocent people."
The four Vanguard Class TRIDENT Subs are penned in Faslane, Scotland when not on their deadly, stealthy prowl under the waves. The Scottish National Party voted 54-5 AGAINST the TRIDENT modernization program.
PM May went on to state that "it would be a gross irresponsibility to discard the TRIDENT program."
No thought, at all, to the Gross Moral Irresponsibility of threatening to USE these horrific, world - killing weapons while presenting this and future generations with a bill for hundreds of billions of dollars for "an indiscriminate weapon of mass destruction" (Jeremy Corbyn) that will threaten their present and future existence!
TIME FOR ALL OF US TO WAKE UP! GET INVOLVED! THINK! ARGUE! VOTE! BUT AT LEAST BE AWARE OF THIS THREAT TO ALL OF US - TO THIS GENERATION AND THOSE YET TO BE BORN.
(CLICK here to read the NYTS article)
A very necessary sense of urgency is spreading around the globe. Time is NOT on our side.
ABOLITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN OUR TIME
Please CLICK to read an important essay on our Nuclear Weapons Crisis from Physicians for Social Responsibility.
A chilling reminder, once again, that these Weapons of Ultimate Destruction are central to the strategic thinking of both sides of the East/West Divide (NATO and Russia).
From the NATO meeting in Warsaw, The New York Times reports that Nuclear Weapons are front and center in military discussions.
Citing the Alliance's NATO Review Journal that "Nuclear Weapons once again had to move back to the center of the alliance's defense plans" and that Nuclear Weapons drills "should be exercised openly and regularly" and further that these "exercises should not point to any specific nuclear thresholds that might signal to the Russians what it would take to provoke a nuclear response."
But some in the alliance are rightfully concerned about the contemplated use of these Weapons.
German Foreign Minister Steinmeir "criticized a major military exercise in Poland last month as saber-rattling for provoking the Russians."
A dispute has arisen over whether "to tone down any potential provocations" regarding Nuclear Weapons.
A specific point of contention within NATO has been "whether to rid Europe of the B-61." NATO and U.S. Nukes are presently stored in several European nations, including Belgium. NATO member Turkey is also a storage site for B-61 Nuclear Bombs.
On their side, Mr. Putin and his military leadership have referred to the Russian ability to reduce America to "nuclear ash" and that they will respond in kind to any NATO Nuclear threats or posturing.
The leaders on both sides need to ratchet down the rhetoric when it comes to Nuclear Weaponry and the very real threat of Nuclear War. WORDS DO HAVE CONSEQUENCES.
The late Jonathan Schell warned that a Nuclear War will start in minutes and be over in an afternoon.
And "Over" in this context means "Over and Out" for humanity and the world. A quick CLICK on the keyboard brings on Nuclear Annihilation.
ABOLITION IN OUR TIME. BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.
CLICK to read the NYTS news article.
POLITICO reports, June 22, 2016, that President Obama is considering a Nuclear Weapons "NO FIRST USE" Policy decision before he leaves office. This would mean that the U.S. would NOT be the first nation to launch Nuclear Weapons in a future crisis.
He may also consider ending our "LAUNCH ON WARNING" policy. This would end the razor's edge "hair-trigger alert" Nuclear Weapons system currently in place. It would help to prevent Nuclear War launched by accident, miscalculation, misunderstanding or mistake.
The President needs our support on these crucial steps. You can go to Global Zero.org and sign a petition/letter to the President.
ABOLITION IN OUR TIME. THIS IS A FIRST STEP.GlobalZero.org
"SLEEPING WITH THE FISHES": TRIDENT SUBS, NUCLEAR MISSILES, ACCIDENTS AT SEA
(Ct'd from Post, June 25, on "New Age of Nukes")
The Vice News reporter visits the crew on board a US TRIDENT SUBMARINE. Crew members speak nonchalantly of "sleeping with the missiles".
We all need to realize that if those missiles are ever launched, by accident or design, much of humanity will indeed be "SLEEPING WITH THE FISHES." WHY?
Because every TRIDENT SUB has 24 ICBMs, each one armed with 4 MIRV warheads, giving each TRIDENT the capacity to launch 96 Thermonuclear Warheads - with each warhead containing the explosive force of up to 30 times the Hiroshima Bomb. The missiles will reach their targets in 25 minutes or less within a range of 4,000 nautical miles.
The warheads are not "pre-targeted" as their navigation gyroscopes are "dormant". The gyros require 12 minutes to "spin up" and once ready, targets are fed into the warheads - taking just seconds to transition from "open ocean targeting" to "precise targeting".
According to the U.S. Navy, the subs are called "Boomers" and "serve as an undetectable launch platform for intercontinental missiles. They are specifically designed for stealth and the precise delivery of warheads."
What is looked upon as an advantage by the Navy- the Subs' "stealth", being undetectable, can also be a disastrous detriment.
February, 2009, Bay of Biscay:
1,000 feet beneath the waves:
Two "stealthy" subs the UK's HMS Vanguard and France's Le Triomphant collide. The British Trident clipping the front of the French vessel extensively damaging its sonar dome. The British Sub escaping with "dents and scrapes".
Damage minimal only due to the fact that they were moving toward each other, blindly, at 4 miles per hour.
The two Submarines were loaded with a total of 32 ICBMs.
"This could easily have been a massive humanitarian disaster."- John Large, Nuclear Submarine Engineer and then Advisor to the Royal Navy.
The Security of these Submarines is also at issue. In England, which may soon be headed for a TRIDENT "modernization" up or down vote by the end of July, a former Nuclear Submarine Commander has "blown the whistle" by describing serious safety and security lapses both in the Sub "pen" at Faslane, Scotland, and at sea.
In an interview the Commander states that "all you need is a couple of fake IDs to get aboard". For "clearing my conscience" and "warning about it" he was cashiered out of the RN. "I lost my career. They put the Nuclear Weapons problems above our people. They lie."
And as the US government steamrolls towards its "modernization" program, other Nuclear Nations intend to follow suit.
RUSSIA: Will replace all Soviet era Submarines with Subs possessing 16 ICBMs, each missile loaded with 6 MIRVs for a ship board total of 96 Nuclear Warheads "designed to get past any possible defense." - Vladimir Putin
CHINA: An "Emerging Sub Fleet". Three newly designed "Jinn Class" submarines already at sea, each armed with 12 single warhead missiles. More on the way....
INDIA: Launched its first ever Ballistic Nuclear Submarine, "Arihant" (Slayer of Enemies)
IF WE DO NOT ABOLISH THESE WEAPONS OF ULTIMATE DESTRUCTION THEY WILL SLAY US ALL.
Work For: ABOLITION IN OUR TIME. IT CAN BE DONE. IT MUST BE DONE.
CLICK here for stunning front page NYTS "Weekend Arts" (July 1) photo and article on Bruce Comer's film Crossroads.
His 37 minute 1976 film of Nuclear Weapons Test Bomb footage "declassified" by the U.S. government.
The 1946 BIKINI ATOLL TESTS were filmed by over 700 government cameras. Overkill? Yes, just as the Weapons Themselves became and still are Overkill - capable of world annihilation many times over.
As mentioned in earlier Posts here, there appears to be an awakening around the world to the growing Nuclear Weapons Threat to all of us.
News articles, exhibits (like this one -note the individual in the photo taking some cell phone video), international legal agreements, lawsuits (Marshal Islands v Nuclear Armed Nations currently in several international, including U.S. Courts) Time to be a part of it! Before Time has run out.
ABOLITION IN OUR TIME
Obituary New York Times, June 30, 2016: Simon Ramo, Developed ICBMs
A summary of the life of a very intelligent man who turned that intelligence into the creation of Weapons of Ultimate Destruction.
Pres. Eisenhower called him to ask "if he could build an intercontinental ballistic missile, capable of striking the Soviet Union in less than an hour, and if he could do it before the Russians built the same."
The President also asked that he "Keep it a secret. Let's not tell Congress."
The thread of governmental, in this case Executive Branch, "secrecy" runs through much of the history of Nuclear Weapons development, storage and deployment - by the U.S. government and the governments of other Nuclear Nations to keep their citizens in a dangerous darkness.
Pay attention. An "informed citizenry" (Thomas Jefferson) is a necessity for our survival. The Nuclear Weapons "modernization" program is gearing up. We need to stop it before it gets started. Our lives and the future of humanity are at stake.
ABOLITION IN OUR TIME
CLICK for the Obituary
Informative, essential site from our former Secretary of Defense:
CLICK HERE
