U.S. Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA) warned again that complacency about existing and emerging nuclear threats is unsustainable and perilous, urging that the U.S. “lead in the de-escalation of tensions and abolishment of all nuclear weapons.”
Sharing an article by Robert Lodge at Common Dreams, published in late January after the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists unveiled an unprecedented “90 Seconds to Midnight” reading on its “Doomsday Clock,” McGovern warned starkly that “the world faces a grave threat of nuclear war.”
The world faces a grave threat of nuclear war and its incumbent on the United States to lead in the de-escalation of tensions and abolishment of all nuclear weapons. https://t.co/5Y6Ulh83pS
— Rep. Jim McGovern (@RepMcGovern) February 12, 2024
[NOTE: McGovern’s stated goals of de-escalation and abolishment are often characterized as wishful (or naive) thinking by so-called realpolitik critics, who worry that — with global tensions and nuclear ambitions on the rise — any multilateral nuclear disarmament could upend global order by removing a power balance that discourages rogue actors.]
Acknowledging that the prospect of nuclear war gets ignored because it is so uncomfortable to consider, Lodge’s article asserts that the risk is now “actually higher than at any point since the dawn of the nuclear age and the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.”
Lodge writes: “We live in a world with over 12,000 nuclear weapons, many of which are on hair trigger alert, ready to launch at short notice.”
Attempting to legislate toward change, McGovern and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) — with dozens of co-sponsors — introduced H. Res. 77 in the U.S. House of Representatives in January 2023. The resolution calls on the United States to “embrace the goals and provisions of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and to adopt Back from the Brink’s comprehensive policy prescriptions for preventing nuclear war.”
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