Editor’s note: This commentary is by John Reuwer, MD, of South Burlington who is a member of the Security Committee of the Physicians for Social Responsibility and adjunct professor of conflict resolution at St. Michael’s College.
[W]e have an opportunity this weekend to awaken from our collective sleep about the most immediate danger our civilization faces – the threat of nuclear holocaust. Vermont Public Television will repeat its airing of “Command and Control,” a vivid look at how close we have repeatedly come to accidental nuclear detonations, and a reminder that every nuclear warhead we build or maintain is a threat to our future. (Schedule here)
Many of us remember being taught in the 1960s and ’70s to “duck and cover “ to prepare for the inevitable nuclear war. Our children are nearly oblivious to the danger we faced, even though that danger, lessened only a little, still faces them today. We worked hard to reduce that threat with the START treaties, which greatly reduced the enormous numbers of these weapons engulfing the globe. But that progress has stalled, and the reductions of the latest START treaty are minimal compared with the dangers these weapons pose.
The United States is on the verge of committing a TRILLION dollars to “modernize” our nuclear arsenal. Our president-elect has stated we “must greatly strengthen and expand … nuclear capability,” even if it means Russia, China and Korea will do the same.
The detonation of a single nuke in the heart of any American city would almost certainly create enough panic and fear to end freedom and democracy in our lifetime.
“Command and Control” educates us about the very real possibility of nuclear accidents by showing the numerous near misses of the past, especially the explosion of a Titan II missile carrying the largest hydrogen warhead we ever deployed in Damascus, Arkansas, in September 1980. The gripping details leave the viewer with the visceral sense that having such weapons are a much bigger risk than they imagined.
Of course, accidents are only one of the three ways nuclear weapons can end life as we know it. Leaders of any of the nine nuclear weapons states could use them intentionally in a failed game of brinksmanship (Trump vs. Putin, or Pakistan vs. India sound impossible to anyone?), or an act of desperation or poor judgment (Kim Jong Un?). If we continue to beat the odds of either of those events, a terrorist organization could buy, steal or build one from the plethora of nuclear materials dispersed around the world, especially in territories of the former Soviet Union. The detonation of a single nuke in the heart of any American city would almost certainly create enough panic and fear to end freedom and democracy in our lifetime.
Even as this threat continues, there is hope. The majority of the member nations voted at the UN in December to begin negotiations this spring to ban nuclear weapons. Organizations like Physicians for Social Responsibility and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons are working feverishly on alerting the public about the dangers and opportunities.
We owe it to our children to inform them of this reality, so they can make their own decisions about whether “deterrence,” otherwise called “Mutual Assured Destruction,” is worth the cost and risk.
Watching this movie is a good start.
