75th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings by the United States of America

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By Martins Idakwo

Sometimes, it seems as if fate is trying to prove its unlimited capacity for cruelty. When the skies over Beirut exploded on Tuesday, 4th of August 2020, sending shockwaves all the way to Cyprus, 150 miles away in the Mediterranean, and devastating much of a city that was once known as the Paris of the Middle East, it seemed one of those times.

But the never-ending tragedy, that is Lebanon, is not the result of the random doings of destiny.

Lebanon’s government has blamed a large quantity of poorly stored ammonium nitrate for the blast that rocked the city, killing at least 135 people, injuring more than 5,000 and destroying the capital’s critical port, through which most of the goods Lebanon needs including food, enter the country. Some 300,000 may have been left homeless.

Initial investigations of the catastrophe appear to show it was the result of a confluence of ludicrously reckless practices and non-existent concern for safety – though we can’t know for sure this early. The Prime Minister has promised a full investigation.

The Lebanese have long suffered as a consequence of the actions and behavior of venal, incompetent individuals; of power-hungry politicians, business people, and shadowy figures, and of geopolitical actors who have made the country their plaything at the expense of good governance.

So, it was not surprising that the explosion immediately ignited a storm of speculation and suspicion. What and who caused the cataclysm? Everyone wanted to know.

Perharps, everything that could go wrong in Lebanon has. The blast came in the midst of an epic economic collapse and a global pandemic, with political factions fighting each other as the people, growing hungry, have alternated between despair and rage.

Meanwhile, as the world marks the 75th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings by United States of America in August 6 and 9, 1945, few are left to recall. Events are planned locally and around the United States, with some international ones as well, to honor the memory of the victims.

The shock, as information leaked out about the atomic bombs that instantly destroyed two Japanese cities and propelled the whole world into the nuclear age, has long-term effects of radiation exposure and increased cancer rates in the survivors.

But public perception of the rates of cancer and birth defects among survivors and their children is, in fact, greatly exaggerated when compared to the reality revealed by comprehensive follow-up studies is now nearly 300,000 people, whose names can be found along with an inscription at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park tagged “Let all the souls here rest in peace, for we shall not repeat the evil.”

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded by Manhattan Project scientists in 1945 to convey the urgent nuclear threat. In 1947, they created the metaphoric Doomsday Clock to which they have now added climate crisis and disruptive technology set to 100 seconds before midnight that year, the closest it has ever been, in part because of nuclear treaties canceled, a new nuclear arms race and a lowered barrier to nuclear war.

Today, the world is faced with health crisis with humans living with many existential threats like COVID-19, climate crises and racism.

Beside Covid-19 pandemic, Nigeria, after decades of devastating war with Boko Haram extremist, is struggling to decimate the group as they are now better armed than ever and boast of sophiscated drones than the demoralized Nigerian soldiers who seems to lack solution to the existential threat of nuclear war.

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) of the Department of Energy oversees the research, development, test and acquisition programs that produce, maintain and sustain the nuclear warheads as part of its offices in German town.

Other connections include the universities and corporations in Maryland that profit from the nuclear arms race.
In 2019, Johns Hopkins’ Applied Physics Lab’s “multi-year contract with the Department of Defense exceeded $7 billion” and it had renewed a 7-year contract in 2017 for up to $92 million “for continuing the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center’s (AFNWC) strategic partnership.” While classified research is generally not allowed at Hopkins, whose mission includes an openness in documentation and dissemination of research results, the Applied Physics Laboratory gets a pass.

Lockheed Martin, headquartered in Bethesda, is the largest defense contractor in the world and one of four corporations that profits the most developing nuclear weapons and their delivery systems.

FEMA is the US agency responsible for providing flood hazard and risk data to help guide mitigation actions. In 1990, FEMA created a map with potential nuclear targets listing Maryland/Washington, New York City and Los Angeles as cities that would ‘most likely be attacked’ in the event of a nuclear war.

Report shows that the collective nuclear weapons complex taxes for 2019 in Maryland were $1.55 billion, (for Baltimore nearly $113 million). This money, post COVID-19, is desperately needed locally for jobs, health care, housing and education.

Maryland has important examples of people trying to prevent nuclear war. Baltimore was the first major city and Montgomery County was the first county to pass a “Back from the Brink” resolution, to change nuclear policy in the U.S. and make nuclear war less likely. Other cities include Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Honolulu as well as the states of California and Oregon.

About 15% of the population live where these resolutions have passed. Many of these include support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which would ban, stigmatize and then eventually eliminate nuclear weapons. It is operational once 50 nations ratify it and presently, 40 nations have.

The big question is: Will Hopkins be willing to do research on weapons that are banned by international law? Will the board of Lockheed Martin be OK with profits coming from weapons systems that the United Nations has condemned?

Ari Beser, the grandson of Baltimorean Jacob Beser, has been a supporter of the nuclear weapon ban treaty and believes its passage will make a difference as will boycotting the banks that fund the nuclear weapons. He learned from his grandfather that the day we forget what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki is the day we risk letting it happen again.

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