Sneak Peak

We've been working on adding some Google Map work to the site. Here is a sample of our efforts (http://atomicarchive.com/Almanac/Testing-Google.shtml)

Feedback is welcomed!

Labels: Google Maps

On Nuclear Terrorism

Council on Foreign Relations hosted a talk last November with Michael A. Levi author of On Nuclear Terrorism.
The audio can be heard here: http://uc.princeton.edu/main/images/stories/podcast/20071120MichaelLeviCFR.mp3

Labels: Nuclear Terrorism, podcast

Korean Nuclear Declaration Could Arrive This Month

North Korea appears ready to issue a full declaration of its nuclear holdings and activities this month, Bloomberg reported.

The list was expected Dec. 31 as part of the second phase of North Korean denuclearization, for which the isolated nation stands to receive economic, diplomatic and security benefits. However, the process has stumbled amid U.S. assertions that Pyongyang had failed to address key segments of its nuclear program.

Envoys from Pyongyang and Washington reportedly reached a tentative deal last week under which North Korea would provide details of its plutonium-based programs while acknowledging U.S. suspicions regarding uranium enrichment efforts and support for a Syrian nuclear program. [via Nuclear Threat Initiative]

Labels: denuclearization, North Korea

New Book: Atomic Tragedy: Henry L. Stimson and the Decision to Use the Bomb Against Japan

Cornell University Press is pleased to announce the release of Sean L. Malloy's newest title, Atomic Tragedy: Henry L. Stimson and the Decision to Use the Bomb Against Japan.

Atomic Tragedy offers a unique perspective on one of the most important events of the twentieth century. As Secretary of War during World War II, Henry L. Stimson (1867–1950) oversaw the American nuclear weapons program. In a book about how an experienced, principled man faltered when confronted by the tremendous challenge posed by the intersection of war, diplomacy, and technology, Sean L. Malloy examines Stimson’s struggle to reconcile his responsibility for “the most terrible weapon ever known in human history” with his long-standing convictions about war and morality.

Ultimately, Stimson’s story is one of failure; despite his beliefs, Stimson reluctantly acquiesced in the use of the atomic bomb against heavily populated Japanese cities in August 1945. This is the first biography of Stimson to benefit from extensive use of papers relating to the Manhattan Project; Malloy has also uncovered evidence illustrating the origins of Stimson’s commitment to eliminating or refining the conduct of war against civilians, information that makes clear the agony of Stimson’s dilemma.

Cornell Press is offering a 20% discount, to our readers.

Labels: Henry L. Stimson

Shultz on Nukes - Then & Now

Former secretary of State George Shultz has joined several other former U.S. officials — Henry Kissinger, William Perry, and Sam Nunn — in directing the Nuclear Security Project, which is aimed at “ending nuclear weapons as a threat to the world.” According to Shultz, times have changed. The doctrine of deterrence that existed during the Cold War no longer applies. The number of nations pursuing nuclear weapons has metastasized, and the non-proliferation regime has unraveled. Hence, we need a new objective: a world free of nuclear weapons. [ via Uncommon Knowledge on National Review Online]

France to cut nuclear arsenal

French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced cuts in France's atomic arsenal but vowed to keep a strong enough deterrent against threats such as the possibility of a nuclear-armed Iran.

He said the airborne nuclear strike force would be cut by a third, leaving France with fewer than 300 warheads.

Labels: Arsenal, France, Reduction

2020 Vision Campaign

The 2020 Vision Campaign was launched in 2003 by Mayors for Peace, an international association led by the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The purpose of the campaign is to eliminate all nuclear weapons by 2020. We have been quite successful at the UN and mayoral levels, but in order to succeed with our ambitious goal we absolutely must extend the campaign to the grassroots level. To do that, we need to raise more money for the campaign than Hiroshima and Nagasaki can provide on their own. Amazingly, the two A-bombed cities have donated more than a quarter of a million dollars each year to Mayors for Peace!

At present, Mayors for Peace has more than 2020 member cities in 127 countries. If we could raise a mere 1000 dollars from each member city, we would have $2 million. With that, we could greatly increase our capacity to raise public awareness and create the political will that just might prevent a nuclear catastrophe. Based on feedback from several of our 116 US members, we believe the most effective way to get 1000 dollars from each American city is for the residents to raise $500, then take that $500 to the mayor and ask him or her to match it. So, what we are suggesting is:

1. Go to http://www.mayorsforpeace.org/english/membercity/northamerica.html and find out if your mayor is a member of Mayors for Peace. If so, go directly to step 4. 
   
2. If your mayor is NOT a member, contact Mihoko Ishizaki at: mayorcon@pcf.city.hiroshima.jp. Tell her you want to approach your mayor, and she will send you a recruiting package. (You can decide together whether you want it by physical mail or email.) Please also contact Mayors for Peace U.S. coordinator Jackie Cabasso at: jackie@2020visioncampaign.org and let her know what youre planning. 
   
3. Gather a small group of constituents, visit your mayor and ask him or her to join Mayors for Peace. My guess is that most mayors will say yes. 
   
4. Fill in the application and get Hiroshima to send you the exhibition materials (A-bomb posters, CDs, DVDs and books). 
   
5. Find a room or corridor or even an outdoor space where you can put up about 35 posters (each poster is 3 feet by 2 feet). Hopefully, the exhibition can stay up for at least a couple weeks, but even if you have to put it up and take it down the same day, it would make for a good event. 
   
6. Choose a day, invite a speaker, invite a poet or musician, and hold a 2020 Vision Campaign Fundraising Party. Please feel free to contact Jackie for ideas. 
   
7. If you can get 50 people to give you $10, or 100 people to give you $5, or five people to give you $100, you will have your $500. If you get a few more people to give you a little more, you will have enough to pay yourself back for whatever you spend on the party. 
   
8. When you have the $500, contact us and we will give you a letter from Mayors for Peace to your mayor asking him or her to match your $500. Take your money and the letter to your mayor and ask for the match. We are quite optimistic that your mayor will be happy to give it to you. Then, send us the $1000, and your city will have done its duty for the 2020 Vision Campaign! 
   

For more information about Mayors for Peace and the 2020 Vision Campaign, please go to: www.mayorsforpeace.org and www.2020visioncampaign.org

Whether you hold a fundraising party, a peoples hearing or neither, please think of some way to use our exhibition materials to raise consciousness and help us protect our collective future. Detailed information about our A-bomb exhibitions and an application form are at: http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/images_e/poster/letter.html and http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/images_e/poster/application.html. Please help Hiroshima get this message out: What happened to us is so horrible that it must never happen to anyone else. No more Hiroshima! No more Nagasaki! No more Hibaksusha! The battle against nuclear weapons is one we can and must win.

Labels: 2020 Vision Campaign, Hibaksusha, hiroshima, nagasaki