{"id":8677,"date":"2017-01-16T16:50:14","date_gmt":"2017-01-16T21:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=8677"},"modified":"2019-10-10T12:44:07","modified_gmt":"2019-10-10T16:44:07","slug":"open-letter-to-president-elect-donald-trump-on-nuclear-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=8677","title":{"rendered":"Open Letter to President-elect Donald Trump on Nuclear\u00a0Weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DISARMAMENT & SECURITY . <\/p>\n

A letter prepared by and published by The Nuclear Age Foundation<\/a><\/p>\n

As president of the United States, you will have the grave responsibility of assuring that nuclear weapons are not overtly threatened or used during your term of office.<\/p>\n

The most certain way to fulfill this responsibility is to negotiate with the other possessors of nuclear weapons for their total elimination. The U.S. is obligated under Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to engage in such negotiations in good faith for an end to the nuclear arms race and for nuclear disarmament.<\/p>\n

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A nuclear war, any nuclear war, would be an act of insanity. Between nuclear weapons states, it would lead to the destruction of the attacking nation as well as the attacked. Between the U.S. and Russia, it would threaten the survival of humanity.<\/p>\n

There are still more than 15,000 nuclear weapons in the world, of which the United States possesses more than 7,000. Some 1,000 of these remain on hair-trigger alert. A similar number remain on hair-trigger alert in Russia. This is a catastrophe waiting to happen.<\/p>\n

Even if nuclear weapons are not used intentionally, they could be used inadvertently by accident or miscalculation. Nuclear weapons and human fallibility are a dangerous mix.<\/p>\n

Nuclear deterrence presupposes a certain view of human behavior. It depends on the willingness of political leaders to act rationally under all circumstances, even those of extreme stress. It provides no guarantees or physical protection. It could fail spectacularly and tragically.<\/p>\n

You have suggested that more nations \u2013 such as Japan, South Korea and even Saudi Arabia \u2013 may need to develop their own nuclear arsenals because the U.S. spends too much money protecting other countries. This nuclear proliferation would make for a far more dangerous world. It is also worrisome that you have spoken of dismantling or reinterpreting the international agreement that places appropriate limitations on Iran\u2019s nuclear program and has the support of all five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany.<\/p>\n

As other presidents have had, you will have at your disposal the power to end civilization as we know it. You will also have the opportunity, should you choose, to lead in ending the nuclear weapons era and achieving nuclear zero through negotiations on a treaty for the phased, verifiable, irreversible and transparent elimination of nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n

We, the undersigned, urge you to choose the course of negotiations for a nuclear weapons-free world. It would be a great gift to all humanity and all future generations.<\/p>\n

(Continued in right column)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Question related to this article:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

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Can we abolish all nuclear weapons?<\/a> <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

(Continued from left column)<\/p>\n

Partial list of initial signatories. For full list and link to add your signature, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

David Krieger, President, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation<\/p>\n

Richard Falk, Senior Vice President, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation<\/p>\n

Daniel Ellsberg, Distinguished Fellow, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation<\/p>\n

Noam Chomsky, Professor Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology<\/p>\n

Oliver Stone, Film director<\/p>\n

Setsuko Thurlow, Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Survivor<\/p>\n

Anders Wijkman, Co-President, Club of Rome<\/p>\n

Helen Caldicott, Founding President, Physicians for Social Responsibility <\/p>\n

Ben Ferencz, Former Nuremberg war crimes prosecutor<\/p>\n

Robert Jay Lifton, Columbia University<\/p>\n

Hon. Douglas Roche, O.C., Former Canadian Ambassador for Disarmament<\/p>\n

Martin Hellman, Professor Emeritus, Stanford University<\/p>\n

Robert Laney, Chair, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation <\/p>\n

Rick Wayman, Director of Programs, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation<\/p>\n

Ruben Arvizu, Latin America Representative, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation<\/p>\n

Jonathan Granoff, President, Global Security Institute <\/p>\n

Medea Benjamin, Co-Founder, Code Pink<\/p>\n

Peter Kuznick, Professor of History and Director of the Nuclear Studies Institute, American University<\/p>\n

Barry Ladendorf, President, Veterans for Peace<\/p>\n

Dr. Hafsat Abiola-Costello, Founder and President, Kudirat Initiative for Democracy<\/p>\n

Marie Dennis, Co-President, Pax Christi International<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY . A letter prepared by and published by The Nuclear Age Foundation As president of the United States, you will have the grave responsibility of assuring that nuclear weapons are not overtly threatened or used during your term of office. The most certain way to fulfill this responsibility is to negotiate with … Continue reading Open Letter to President-elect Donald Trump on Nuclear\u00a0Weapons<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,91],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-8677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disarmament","category-north-america","tag-north-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8677\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}