NUCLEAR WAR. NOBODY’S NOT INTERESTED! NOBODY’S GOING TO ARGUE IN FAVOR . . .
(This article appeared recently on my new Substack page, “The Optimistic Eye,” where I plan to highlight, every Friday, individuals &/or organizations working to preserve truth, justice and our democracy – and the planet – in the coming years. Author Annie Jacobsen is such an individual, Ploughshares is such an organization; Jacobsen’s bestseller is a riveting book everybody on the planet should read. I’ll probably include other Optimistic Eye pieces here, or feel free to visit my Substack page via franmorelandjohns.)
OK, you may not think a pleasant conversation about nuclear warfare sounds like the best path to happy holidays with family and friends.
But think about it. Is anyone going to start arguing? Awareness v global annihilation? Does the prospect of blowing up the planet (or maybe not!) have a certain conversational cachet that everyone might buy into? Goodwill in the air. Plus — since we really don’t expect anyone to launch a nuclear war tomorrow, what better time to talk about catastrophe than when we’ve still a small chance of keeping it at bay.
Ploughshares, an extraordinary global peace and security nonprofit committed to eliminating the threat of nuclear weapons, wants us to talk about this.
To that end, Ploughshares Executive Director Elizabeth Warner recently arranged a conversation with historian of science and nuclear technology Alex Wellerstein and invited supporters to listen in (and ask questions!) Wellerstein’s writings on the subject have appeared in the New Yorker, the Washington Post and elsewhere and he’s currently at work on a second book. In addition to his day job as a professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology he is also working on a video game which millions of people far younger than this writer will eventually play.
You, and guests, may want to join this conversation.
Why? Well, for openers, we have just elected a man not known for calm, thoughtful deliberation to be in charge of pulling the nuclear trigger — or, hopefully, not. Doesn’t that seem a big enough deal for holiday dinner conversations?
If someone can’t be pried away from a screen there is also Wellerstein’s NukeMap. You can pick your target, choose your weapon, detonate, and see what havoc you have wrought. Pretty good way to convince anyone not to wreak nuclear havoc.
We may have little control over our new commander in chief, but we can talk about what’s at stake — that would be each one of us along with planet earth — and we can keep an eye on the man now in charge.
There are enough nuclear weapons around the globe — fairly evenly divided among good guys and bad guys — to blow it up several times over. Treaties signed by the U.S. and its adversaries over the decades have helped keep this from happening. But we have elected a president fond of pulling us out of treaties at the drop of a tweet.
Happily, we don’t have to have an in-depth understanding of nuclear treaties — that’s where people like Ploughshares president Dr. Emma Belcher come in. But how about a conversation about NPT, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, or START, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (actually, New START now.)
Or. Additional great conversation-opener: For book lovers on your gift list there’s Annie Jacobsen’s new Nuclear War: A Scenario, also definitely a conversation starter. Jacobsen outlines a timeline of a hypothetical attack against the U.S. and how its response would play out.
Admittedly, this isn’t bedtime reading, but it is riveting. Jacobsen’s scenario, created from interviews with key figures, an exhaustive knowledge of once-classified documents and more, gives a minute-by-minute account of what will happen once that first strike unleashes nuclear global disaster.
Nuclear War: A Scenario (it’s been a best seller since publication) includes a sobering observation on p 83: “The U.S. president — as odd as this may seem — has sole authority to launch America’s nuclear weapons. The president asks permission of no one.” It ends with another food-for-thought truism: “It was the nuclear weapons that were the enemy of us all. All along.”
Here’s the good news: nobody, including Donald Trump, wants a nuclear war.
But we are living in the nuclear age. Designated “Nuclear weapon states” are Russia, France, China, the U.K. and U.S.; but other countries also have a few. Until some miraculous global coming-to-our-senses happens, the risk of some unhinged leader unleashing nuclear catastrophe is very real.
Ploughshares has been instrumental in reducing the global number of nuclear weapons in past decades. Just as we might all have a good talk about books and treaties and catastrophic scenarios, how about this for a conversation starter:
“Should the U.S. (&/or other countries) be increasing the supply of nuclear weapons on hand, or should we work to reduce that supply? What do you think? Why?”
Another ray of light: One of the best books on my 2024 reading list was British science journal Nature senior editor Henry Gee’s small book, A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth — 4.6 Billion Years in 12 Pithy Chapters. Dr. Gee, in his pithy chapters, makes you feel as if you’re just having a little fireside chat. And while he’s at it, puts our bumbling civilization in perspective.
It’s worth hoping that our civilization doesn’t bumble itself into oblivion with some stupid, totally avoidable nuclear war.
Isn’t that also worth a good conversation among friends? Happy holidays.
