We Must Stop The Madness Of Nuclear Brinkmanship
By John Scales Avery
01 December, 2015
Countercurrents.org
In a recent article, Bruce G. Blair of the Program on Science and Global Security at Princeton University writes that “The Russian warplane recently shot down inside Turkey’s border with Syria fits a pattern of brinkmanship and inadvertence that is raising tensions and distrust between Russia and U.S.-led NATO. Low-level military encounters between Moscow and Washington are fanning escalatory sparks not witnessed since the Cold War. And there exists a small but steadily growing risk that this escalation could morph by design or inadvertence into a nuclear threat.”
He goes on to say “And believe it or not, Russia has shortened the launch time from what it was during the Cold War. Today, top military command posts in the Moscow area can bypass the entire human chain of command and directly fire by remote control rockets in silos and on trucks as far away as Siberia in only 20 seconds.”
“Why should this concern us? History shows that crisis interactions, once triggered, take on a life of their own. Military encounters multiply; they become more decentralized, spontaneous and intense. Safeguards are loosened and unfamiliar operational environments cause accidents and unauthorized actions. Miscalculations, misinterpretations and loss of control create a fog of crisis out of which a fog of war may emerge. In short, the slope between the low-level military encounters, the outbreak of crisis and escalation to a nuclear dimension is a steep and slippery one.”
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/11/russia-us-tensions-nuclear-cold-war-213395
Another recent article, entitled “Why We're Sliding Towards World War”, points to economic and political motivations. War is threatened because heightened tensions can distract the public from a threatened economic collapse. The US dollar's status as a reserve currency is threatened because new transactions by the BRICS countries bypass the dollar.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/03/financial-experts-world-war-3-coming-unless-stop.html
The military-industrial establishments of the United States, Europe and Russia all wish for heightened tensions. The threat of war justifies the 1.7 trillion dollars per year that the world now spends on armaments. However, threats can all too easily become reality.
http://www.countercurrents.org/avery240615.htm
Brinksmanship is an insane and imoral game played by our arrogant and power-mad leaders. It is a game that the world could all too easily lose. We know from histories of the start of World War I how easily a small incident can escalate uncontrollably into a catastrophic global conflict. With thermonuclear weapons, the stakes are much higher today. The future of humanity and the biosphere are at stake.
The world has been very close to a catastrophic thermonuclear war a number of times,
http://cadmusjournal.org/article/issue-4/flaws-concept-nuclear-deterrance
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/man-who-saved-world-doing-5736621
http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2002_11/cubanmissile
We have been very lucky and, until now, we have escaped the catastrophic nuclear destruction of our beautiful world. But we cannot expect our good luck to continue forever. We must stop the arrogance, hubris and madness of our leaders. We must stop the madness of nuclear brinksmanship.
John Avery received a B.Sc. in theoretical physics from MIT and an M.Sc. from the University of Chicago. He later studied theoretical chemistry at the University of London, and was awarded a Ph.D. there in 1965. He is now Lektor Emeritus, Associate Professor, at the Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen. Fellowships, memberships in societies: Since 1990 he has been the Contact Person in Denmark for Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. In 1995, this group received the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts. He was the Member of the Danish Peace Commission of 1998. Technical Advisor, World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe (1988- 1997). Chairman of the Danish Peace Academy, April 2004. http://www.fredsakademiet.dk/ordbog/aord/a220.htm. He can be reached at [email protected]