Lesson+2 +Nuke+Map +Nuclear+Weapons+Today

Lesson 2_ Nuke Map_ Nuclear Weapons
What do we now think about Nuclear Weapons?

What were the implications of “the bomb” [nuclear bombs] for
Great Power relations?
‘The Bomb’ is popular jargon meaning ‘nuclear weapons’
Hiroshima Day (August 6) is another

popular term still used today
The Nukemap or the Missilemap refer to

popular websites that show you the impact
of different types of bombs on cities, like your own. Go to
https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/ or double click on the map.
● Global warming since 1880 (in blue ) compared to
predicted temperature drops from nuclear war
India-Pakistan nuclear war
• If 100 Hiroshima-size weapons (equivalent to all the
bombs used in WW II or 0.05% of deployed U.S.-
Russian weapons) were used
• Then 5 million tons of smoke would rise 50 km
above cloud level into the stratosphere
• Global temperatures would drop to little Ice-Age
levels; significant reduction in precipitation and 25-
40% of ozone destroyed at mid-latitudes, 50-70%
destroyed at northern high latitudes
India-Pakistani conflict using 100
Hiroshima-size nuclear weapons
Change in average surface temps
2 years after India-Pakistan nuclear war
% Change in global precipitation
1 year after India-Pakistan nuclear war
What do world leaders think about nuclear
weapons?
We will listen to the former

U.S. Assistant Secretary of
Defense. I wish we could
interview Kim Jong Un or
another leader of Russia on
nuclear weapons.
What Should We Be Doing?
What Should We
Be Doing? It is up to
your opinion so you
must decide
yourself. Professor
Simpson has put
together a slide show
(supplementary
slides) with many
links to volunteer
organizations. She
stays optimistic by
taking action!
Why not help commemorate the anniversary each
August of the use of atomic weapons over Japan. In
1945, a 14-kiloton uranium bomb exploded at
Hiroshima on Aug. 6, and a 20-kiloton plutonium bomb
on Aug. 9 was dropped over Nagasaki. It killed between
129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were
civilians.
Debates continue to this day over the impact
of these bombings on the Japanese surrender
that ended the Second World War. Not in
doubt is that tens of thousands of Japanese
civilians were intentionally targeted,
and slaughtered or maimed from the two
small nuclear detonations.
In its 1996 opinion, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) determined: “There
exists an obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations
leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective
international control.”
Professor Simpson is a board member of the
Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
(CNANW). CNANW’s 17 member organizations
include faith communities, professional groups,
peace research and women’s organizations–all
of which work in various ways toward the
abolition of nuclear weapons. Professor
Simpson is the president of the Canadian Peace
Research Association (CPRA). She also
contributes as a Board member to the Canadian
Pugwash Group. Ways forward to create a
world without nuclear weapons? I am
interested!
Today, nearly 13,000 nuclear warheads still remain, more than 90 per cent belong
to Russia and the United States. Average explosive yields are many times the
destructive capacity of the bombs dropped over Japan in 1945.
Across the world, commemorative events are held to remind us of the terrible
cost and ongoing dangers of nuclear arms races and the potential impact of
even a limited nuclear missile exchange. Yet, the nine official and unofficial
nuclear-armed states are intent on retaining, rebuilding, and modernizing their
warheads.
President Vladimir Putin’s frequent
references to possible use of nuclear
weapons has led to apathy – not to
protests. People around the world are not
protesting against nuclear war but staying
very quiet – not saying very much due to
fear? Or due to not knowing much about
nuclear weapons as they are a legacy of
the last century.
This year, the hands of the Doomsday Clock point at 90 seconds to
midnight, a symbolic reminder of how close our global community is to
environmental catastrophe and human annihilation. We must collectively
push our governments forward to take action—no excuses.
Many types of risk reduction
measures – including the adoption
of No First Use of nuclear
weapons; de-alerting
nuclear warheads; and the end of
Launch on Warning policies – will be
critical to immediately dial down
existing nuclear dangers. These
measures are not substitutes,
however, for deep cuts in nuclear
arsenals and the full elimination of
nuclear stockpiles.
Here in Canada, the government is not
engaging in discussions nor
participating as observers at the UN
negotiations on the Treaty on the
Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
(TPNW). Canada is not undertaking
diplomatic negotiations toward
a proposed Nuclear Weapons
Convention (NWC) that would achieve
the comprehensive elimination of
nuclear weapons. The idea of a NWC
originated in Canada but it is not
supported by the government.
The Canadian government is a member of NATO and must support
nuclear deterrence. For now, keep in mind that we need to re-establish
nuclear disarmament and arms control as a Canadian foreign policy
priority. At a minimum, there should be more parliamentary debate
and the onset of parliamentary committee hearings on Canada’s role in
advancing disarmament.
Professor Simpson has argued for 25 years
that Canada must retake a leadership role
within NATO toward creating the conditions
for a world free of nuclear weapons and
Canada should spearhead a comprehensive re-
examination of NATO’s reliance on nuclear
deterrence. There needs to be a rejection of
NATO’s outmoded strategic concept, and the
rejection of any modernization of nuclear
weapons and their carrier systems. However,
this week’s speaker thinks NOT – and we love
to argue.
Abolition will never happen in a strategic vacuum; therefore the
elimination of nuclear weapons will require a durable security
framework based upon the principles of common security and
sustainable peace in order to prevent future nuclear breakouts and
arms races, including in space.
Europeans are encouraging their
governments to take lead roles as part
of the Stockholm Initiative—a
multilateral platform formed in 2019
that is working to more strongly
support the Treaty on the Non-
Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
The Japanese hibakusha who survived the Aug. 6 and 9 atomic
bombings in 1945 remind us—as does Canadian Setsuko Thurlow
—that another future is possible. In the words of Beatrice Fihn,
executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish
Nuclear Weapons: “We represent those who refuse to accept
nuclear weapons as a fixture in our world, those who refuse to
have their fates bound up in a few lines of launch code. Ours is
the only reality that is possible. The alternative is unthinkable.”

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Lesson 2_ Nuke Map_ Nuclear Weapons

What do we now think about Nuclear Weapons?

Hiroshima Day (August 6) is another

The Nukemap or the Missilemap refer to

We will listen to the former

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