nuclear-news

Take the money away from nuclear weapons – spend it on Covid-19 relief

Nuclear weapons must go,  https://www.goskagit.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/letter-nuclear-weapons-must-go/article_668b33b7-76f9-5a31-9c0c-7c85e222aae3.html, By Kathleen Lorence-Flanagan

On the 75th anniversaries of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings, there were two days of videotaped testimony by hibakusha (survivors), scientists, artists, students, downwinders, mayors, Marshall Islanders, etc. Moving, informative, and inspiring testimony.

The question that kept arising was why do nuclear weapons still exist? It was said that as weapons of global annihilation, “we need to get rid of them before they get rid of us.”

Total global spending on nuclear weapons in 2019 was $73 billion, $35 billion of that by the U.S. alone (CNN).

Could that money not be better spent for COVID economic relief, education, health care, jobs, etc.?

More spending, deregulation of nuclear waste and resumption of nuclear testing are proposed by the current administration.

A positive note: the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has recently been signed by three more countries, bringing the total to 43.

A total of 50 are needed, at which point nuclear weapons will fall into the same category as biological and chemical weapons. Hopefully seven more nations will step up to the plate.

August 22, 2020 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general