Photo: Ostia Antica, Italy - Lois Barber
August 2022 - The devastating war in Ukraine is a constant reminder of how destructive conventional weapons are to human lives and psyches, animals, cities, and the environment. It is important to recognize that the existence of nuclear weapons in Russia but not in Ukraine is one of the reasons this war was made possible and is ongoing. On Feb. 27, Russian President Putin announced that his country’s nuclear forces had been placed on “high alert,” meaning, 900 of their nuclear weapons could be launched within 15 minutes. This has enabled Russia to wage conventional war while threatening escalation to a nuclear war. It's clear: nuclear weapons do not “keep the peace.”
Analysts estimate that the world’s nine nuclear states—China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, the UK and the US—have around 13,000 nuclear warheads in total. Russia says it has 6,257 nuclear warheads, while the United States admits to having 5,550.
Our priority as a world community must be to eliminate the catastrophic risk posed by nuclear weapons. Yet, the US defense industry and their allies in Congress are using the Ukraine war to call for increased defense funding and new spending on tactical nuclear weapons—nuclear weapons that actually increase the risk of nuclear use.
ACTION: Contact your members of Congress: Ask them to bring us back from the nuclear brink and get the US and all countries on the path to abolishing nuclear weapons. Include the facts above and ask them to do all they can to decrease spending on nuclear weapons and increase funding for other pressing needs that would directly and immediately improve human security such as investments in clean energy technology and infrastructure that will accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels and toward climate stabilization, and work for the US to join the 86 nations that have signed the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
CONTACT: Your Representative and Senators in Congress
- Web: Find your Congress persons’ names and links to their websites at www.senate.gov, www.house.gov; send an email or leave a message via ‘Contact’ on his/her website
- Tel: 202 224-3121 (Capitol switchboard-ask for his/her office & leave a message)
- Mail: Senator or Representative (first & last name) U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.20510, or U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515
Please forward this email on to your contacts and/or write a letter-to-the-editor
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