Friends,

In May 2010 nations will gather in New York City for the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference.  This will be the year that the pressure will be on to set binding and enforceable targets for reducing and ultimately eliminating the signatories’ nuclear arsenals.  Of course, it will not be as simple as that since there are nations that are not signatories to the NPT that have developed nuclear weapons, the proverbial flies in the ointment.

No matter who currently has nuclear weapons, the entire world is at risk the longer nations maintain their arsenals.  Some arsenals, such as the United States’ and Russia’s, are so massive as to be ludicrous.  As of 2009, just the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile was estimated at 5,200 nuclear warheads, 2700 of those “operational” (in other words deployed and ready to go).  Do we really need that many nukes to “deter” another nation from attacking us???

The Fiscal Year 2011 budget has a 10% increase for nuclear weapons programs, bringing total funding to about $7 billion. I wanted to share with you a roundup of some excellent analysis of the budget by groups in the disarmament community, as well as two announcements about activities around the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference and the Kansas City Plant.

Analysis of the Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Request

Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

“Proposed DoE funding also includes large increases for a facility that will expand plutonium production in Los Alamos, New Mexico and for a new highly enriched uranium production facility near Oak Ridge, Tennessee, each estimated to cost about $3 billion. The Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement Project (CMRR) plutonium facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory increased from $97 million in FY 2010 to $225 million in FY 2011. Y-12’s Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) also increased to $115 million from $94 million in FY 2010.”

Friends,

I honored the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. on Saturday, January 16, 2010 by gathering with other peacemakers at the site of one of the largest concentrations of nuclear weapons anywhere in the world.  We were there to speak truth to power.  Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, according to a 2006 report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, has 2,364 nuclear warheads, or approximately 24 percent of the entire U.S. nuclear arsenal.  The base is home to Trident, the U.S. Navy’s first strike nuclear weapons system.  Members and supporters of Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action held a vigil and nonviolent direct action honoring the memory of Dr. King, much of which has been conveniently lost (or perhaps sanitized) by our nation by and large; the memory of a powerful anti-war prophet is seldom welcomed (and conveniently forgotten) in the land of hubris and violence.

Friends,

Today is the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year (for those of us in the northern hemisphere).  These are dark times, indeed, as nations still worship the false (nuclear) idols they believe provide security (through “deterrence”) and bolster national pride.  Nuclear weapons are truly a dark cloud hanging over humanity, and it has become increasingly clear that it will take a massive people’s movement to convince our governments to take real steps to abolish these omnicidal weapons.

The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference that will take place in May 2010 is a make-it-or-break-it gathering that will demonstrate either real resolve, or as in the case of the recent Copenhagen gathering, business as usual.  In both cases, the world can no longer afford business as usual.  We the people must pressure our governments to make the NPT a valid treaty with real and binding deadlines for disarmament.

Friends,

First we got the bomb, and we thought that was mighty fine. Then Russia got the bomb, and although not thrilled at first, we learned to live with it. Of course, the U.S. and USSR weren’t the only ones in the nuclear weapons act. Slowly, but ever so surely over the decades, other nations have joined the club. And now, while the U.S. and Russia debate numbers of warheads and delivery vehicles, we have even more nations clamoring to join. Who’s gonna be next???