We’re so close! Help us reach our goal and cut the nuclear threat!
Jul 27, 2010
We’re almost there! We have raised over $1 million dollars toward the Cut the Nuclear Threat Campaign! In the past year President Obama has made significant steps to promote his vision for a nuclear weapons free world. But with the 2010 elections approaching, the conservative fringe are doubling their efforts to cut this progress short.
Time is running out. Help us achieve our goal to raise $2 million dollars by the end of the 2010 elections. Click here to make a generous gift today!
For the first time in decades we have the chance to truly change national security policies and reduce nuclear weapons stockpiles. The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty will soon come before the Senate. Council for a Livable World is advocating for its ratification as well as other policies to secure vulnerable nuclear materials.
Unfortunately, the political realities of the 2010 election mean that the window of opportunity for progress on arms control issues is closing.
With less than four months until the election, our goal is high, but our hopes are higher that we can rely on you for your generous support. The thermometer reads $1.3 Million today and you can make it read $2 Million by November.
For nearly 50 years, Council for a Livable World has fought to end to the proliferation of nuclear weapons. With the support of a progressive President and Congress, now is the time to make true progress toward that goal. But the 2010 elections are almost here, please help Cut the Nuclear Threat today!
Consequences of failure to ratify New START
Jul 19, 2010
Gen. Chilton: Russians unconstrained, lose insight into Russian nuclear arsenal
"If we don't get the treaty, [the Russians] are not constrained in their development of force structure and...we have no insight into what they’re doing. So its the worst of both possible worlds."
[General Kevin Chilton, STRATCOM Commander, 6/16/10]
Brent Scowcroft: Nuclear negotiations thrown into chaos
“The principal result of non-ratification would be to throw the whole nuclear negotiating situation into a state of chaos.”
[General Brent Scowcroft (Ret.), President George H.W. Bush's National Security Advisor, 6/10/10]
James Schlesinger: U.S. non-proliferation efforts undermined
Failure to ratify this treaty “would have a detrimental effect on our ability to influence others with regard to, particularly, the nonproliferation issue.”
[Secretary of Defense for Presidents Nixon and Ford and the Secretary of Energy for President Carter, 4/29/10]
Tell Your Senators Today to Vote for New START!
Jul 15, 2010
The debate is in full swing. Right wing groups such as the Heritage Foundation and the John Birch Society have come out in strident opposition to the New START nuclear reductions treaty signed by the United States and Russia.
Call or write your Senator today! Let them know which side of the debate you are on.
The Birch Society has consistently opposed all nuclear arms treaties between the United States and the Soviet Union and its successor state, Russia. These treaties, according to that group, date back to 1961 when John F. Kennedy was President and continued through the Nixon, Reagan and Bush I and II administrations.
Former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger, a hawk of hawks, agrees with the Birch Society on one major point: the latest nuclear reduction agreement follows in a long line of nuclear arms treaties.
However, Schlesinger endorses New START, pointing out that the agreement is consistent with past nuclear arms reductions agreements.Schlesinger is joined in this endorsement by other such GOP national security luminaries as Henry Kissinger, George Schultz, James Baker, Brent Scowcroft and Stephen Hadley. America’s entire military leadership also supports the treaty.
The facts cannot be ignored; New START is important to the national security of the United States, but the far right has seized this opportunity to wage yet another partisan battle based on politics rather than facts.
Tell your Senator that you support the treaty. Call or write today!
Governor Mitt Romney has joined in opposition to the New START agreement. In a July 6 Washington Post OpEd, the once and future presidential candidate called the latest arms agreement President Obama’s worst foreign policy mistake.
The OpEd was rife with inaccuracies, and almost certainly designed to boost his position among the far right that will go far to determine the Republican Presidential nomination in 2012.
Gov. Romney: Birch Society or James Schlesinger
Jul 07, 2010
Former Defense Secretary Jim Schlesinger and John Birch Society Agree:
New START Follows a Long Line of Arms Treaties from Reagan to Obama
Schlesinger Endorses Ratification; Birch Society Opposes
On Which Side of the Conservative Divide Does Gov. Romney Stand?
The ultra-right wing John Birch Society recently opposed the New START nuclear reductions treaty signed by the United States and Russia.
That group at least has been consistent; it has opposed all nuclear arms treaties between the United States and the Soviet Union and its successor state, Russia. These treaties, according to that group, date back to 1961 when John F. Kennedy was President and continued through the Nixon, Reagan and Bush I and II administrations.
In its June 30 statement, the Birch Society stated:
The New START Treaty is the latest installment in a long series of disarmament treaties between the United States and Russia (formerly the Soviet Union) that began in 1961.
That period would, of course, cover President Reagan’s Intermediate Nuclear Forces Agreement and President George W. Bush’s Treaty of Moscow.
Help defeat New START treaty opponent from Missouri
Jun 24, 2010
Missouri Senate candidate Roy Blunt says the Senate should reject the new treaty with Russia to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the U.S. and Russia.
In doing so, Blunt has ignored the strong treaty endorsements of our nation’s top military leaders, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates (appointed by George W. Bush), Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen (appointed by George W. Bush), as well as the heads of both the U.S. Strategic Command and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.
On top of that, he has snubbed the advice and counsel of very distinguished former Republican national security officials such as former Secretaries of State George Shultz, James Baker and Henry Kissinger and former Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger.
Blunt’s position puts him far out of mainstream GOP thinking.
Inhofe Fact-Free Opposition to New START Agreement
Jun 23, 2010
On June 18, Oklahoma Republican Senator James Inhofe became the first and thus far only U.S. Senator to outline publicly his opposition to the U.S.-Russian nuclear arms agreement.
In his Senate floor speech, Inhofe stated: “I remain concerned about several critical pieces of this security treaty: modernization, force structure, missile defense, verification and most importantly, our overall ability to deter our enemies.”
Inhofe pointed out that he was delivering his remarks the day after the first Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the treaty.
What Inhofe did not point out was that he did not attend that Armed Services Committee hearing.
Nor has Inhofe, a member of both Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, attended a single one of the latter committee’s seven public hearings.
Not one. He has a perfect record of not attending a single hearing.
He asked not a single question of important witnesses: not about modernization, force structure, missile defense, verification or deterrence.
Barbara Boxer Needs Your Help!
Jun 17, 2010
The Massachusetts special election and unexpected primary upsets serve as harsh reminders of the challenges facing Senate candidates endorsed by Council for a Livable World. If Massachusetts, long considered the bluest of blue states, can elect a Republican to the Senate in these tough economic times, California could follow suit.
In California, the Tea Party Express has identified Senator Boxer as one of their top targets in the 2010 elections. Money is flowing into the Golden State from across the country to fund baseless, vicious attacks that distort her record.
Donate now to help Barbara Boxer fight back and win the Senate in 2010!
Ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina (R) is challenging Sen. Barbara Boxer (D), and easily won the June 8 primary with 56% of the vote against Assemblyman Chuck Devore (R) and former U.S. Rep. Tom Campbell (R), the 2000 nominee for Senate. Fiorina’s personal wealth, from the $42 million severance package she received after being booted from Hewlett Packard, eases her ability to fund her own campaign and neutralizes the fundraising advantage an incumbent like Boxer would normally enjoy.
A recent poll conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner shows incumbent Barbara Boxer ahead by a none-to-comfortable margin, with 44% to Fiorina’s 38%.
John Isaacs in Malaysia Discussing Nuclear Weapons Issues
Jun 07, 2010
I was invited by the Department of State to speak to a variety of audiences in Malaysia in early June (and Brunei next week) about nuclear weapons issues.
It was an opportunity to speak favorably about the new United States nuclear weapons policies as well as to engage in some travel to far off places.
The primary purpose was to speak at a conference on The United States and the New Asia: Towards Partnership and Multilateral Engagement in the 21st Century. The conference was hosted by the Center for American Studies in Kuala Lumpur and the Malaysian Association for American Studies.
While I focused on nuclear weapons issues, others at the conference spoke on emerging multilateralism in Asia, ASEAN's (The Association of Southeast Asian Nations) role in Asia, the North Korean nuclear crisis, the impact of the 2008 global financial crisis on American power and influence in Asia, rising China and India, cultural relationships between the US and Asia and non-traditional security issues.
While I was there, the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur set up a briefing for journalists, an Al Jazeera interview on Burma's nuclear intentions, and talks at the International Studies Center, the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations and the National Defense University...
Testimony by Former Secretary Henry Kissinger
May 25, 2010
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Hearing: The Role of Strategic Arms Control in a Post-Cold War World (The New START Treaty)
May 25, 2010
On Tuesday May 25, Former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the New START Treaty, unequivocally recommending the treaty’s ratification.
Secretary Kissinger is experienced in the field of arms control and nuclear security—he is author of Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy, he negotiated the first agreement to limit U.S. and Soviet nuclear weapons through the SALT I accord, and in 2007 he became one of the most well known figures to endorse the goal of creating a world free of nuclear weapons.
Center Chairman General Gard Publishes Op-ed on Military Support for Nuclear Agenda
May 20, 2010
Center Chairman General Gard has written an op-ed on the support of military leadership for the President’s nuclear weapons agenda published today by the McClatchy-Tribune news service. The article, GOP critics vs. the Pentagon, appeared in Lexington, Kentucky in the Lexington Herald-Leader
