The Basel Peace Office is working with our partners in Abolition 2000, the global network to eliminate nuclear weapons, on actions to prevent nuclear war and achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world.
February 3, 2018
The United States Defence Department (DoD) released the new U.S. Nuclear Posture yesterday, following a review of nuclear doctrine to reflect the new priorities and perspectives of President Trump.
The new posture highlights the 'need' for strengthened nuclear deterrence capabilities to 'counter' threats from Russia, China, North Korea and other adversaries of the United States.
It outlines the Trump administration’s plans to develop new low-yield so-called “tactical” nuclear weapons and reintroduce old, Cold War weapons systems. It also increases the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. security, elevating the threats of a nuclear war. And it expands current plans to modernise the nuclear arsenal, increasing the already bloated nuclear weapons budget ($60 billion per year).
U.S. Senator Ed Markey, Co-President of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament, has called the new nuclear posture a 'road-map to nuclear war.'
A leaked draft of the nuclear posture published by the Huffington Post on January 11 was one of the reasons the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists decided to move the hands of the Doomsday Clock to 2 Minutes to Midnight on January 25.
What you can do to reverse this 'road-map to nuclear war'
US residents:
- Call on your legislator to support the Markey/Lieu legislation which would prevent the President from unilaterally using nuclear weapons without authorisation from the US Congress;
- Call on your legislator to support the SANE Act (Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditure), introduced by Senator Markey and Representative Blumenauer, which would slash the bloated nuclear weapons budget and re-invest these resources in climate protection, health, education, job creation, renewable energy and national infrastructure.
- Call on your candidates for the 2018 city, state and federal elections to endorse the Peace Legislators Pledge, which commits candidates to support the peaceful resolution of international conflicts and the abolition of all weapons of mass destruction;
Residents of other countries
- Call on your Prime Minister/President or Foreign Minister to attend the High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament at the United Nations from May 14-16, and use the occasion to urge the U.S. and other nuclear-armed States to 'step back from the nuclear brink.' Click here for a sample letter and contact details for world leaders and their UN ambassadors.
- Call on your government to end public investments in corporations manufacturing nuclear weapons and their delivery systems. See Move the Nuclear Weapons Money.
Everyone
- Join us in New York for the UN High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament and the public event Count the Nuclear Weapons Money;
- Check that you are not Banking on the Bomb;
- Invite your mayor, parliamentarian and/or local religious leader to endorse A Nuclear-Weapon-Free World: Our Common Good, which we will present to world leaders at the UN to support nuclear risk-reduction and disarmament measures
And please help us to advance these initiatives in cooperation with our partners UNFOLD ZERO and PNND by making a donation to the Basel Peace Office.