In the mid-1950s, two exceptional human beings delivered an urgent joint message for all mankind. Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein warned that as a race we face a choice that is “stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race or shall mankind renounce war?” This historic message — the most important message in human history — has never been more relevant and it needs to be at the forefront of all political discussion.
Their plea for the abolition of war and nuclear weapons in recent years has been seconded by men like Robert McNamara and other military analysts who talk of “Apocalypse soon” if we continue our current path. Current world events are not at all encouraging. One recent Saudi editorialist said it best when commenting on Bush’s recent trip to Saudi Arabia, in which Bush’s obsession and sabre-rattling about Iran-American policy represents “not diplomacy in search of peace but madness in search of war.”
The Bush administration’s decisions to pursue the development and deployment of tactical nuclear weapons and to introduce such weapons as conventional weaponry to be used in military operations is a catastrophic miscalculation that may lead to global genocide. And this development is rivaled by the on-going development of BMD-Ballistic missile defense programs that are a major step towards the militarization of space — actions that U.S strategic analysts warn carry “an appreciable risk of ultimate doom.”
Our march towards global annihilation by way of nuclear extinction is receiving virtually no talk or debate in this crucial presidential election. This nuclear issue eclipses all others. This is not to minimize our current economic meltdown or global environmental catastrophe. However, this singular issue — the fate of the planet and the species — is the one issue that should unite us all.
We still have time to prevent “Apocalypse soon.” And for the sake of our children and future generations, we need to act.
Jim Sawyer
Edmonds
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