To those paying attention, the last two weeks have very sharply posed the danger the U.S. is putting the globe in. Coinciding with the U.S. government’s “empathy” for the suffering of Palestinians, its full military and diplomatic support for the continuing assault on Gaza and the West Bank encouraged Netanyahu to assassinate a leader of Hamas inside Iran, and a leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon. As if these aren’t sovereign countries, Israel, a nuclear-armed power, is brazenly inviting a wider war in the region and beyond.
Away from most of the headlines, the post WWII nuclear agreements are coming apart. Put starkly today, Mark Muhich said in No First Use of Nuclear Weapons: Rejecting Nuclear Annihilation:
… all five permanent members of the UN Security Council (P5) are nuclear-armed countries. However, China remains the only permanent member of the UN Security Council, to adopt the No First Use of nuclear weapons. The other four permanent members, the U.S. U.K., France, and Russia are nuclear-armed states but with nuclear postures that include launching nuclear first strikes.
Last month, nuclear weapons talks between the U.S. and China collapsed. China now has 500 nuclear warheads, and is expanding its arsenal. The U.S. currently deploys 1770 warheads and keeps over 5000 warheads in reserve.
Those who run this country are responsible for “leading” the nuclear charge. And we are responsible for stopping them.