End To War Now

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One of the most compelling scenes I can remember from a war-themed movie was from "Testament," a film from 1982 that depicted a mother's struggles after a nuclear war. While not as graphic as "Threads" or even "The Day After," the slow pace of the film allows us to share in the family's humanity, as the ties that hold life together unravel.

The mother washed her youngest son in the bathroom sink. He is gravely ill from radiation poisoning. As she tries to comfort him, the wash basin quickly fills with blood. She grabs him, wraps him in a towel, which becomes blood-soaked as well. She then rocks him gently and sings to him. He passes away, bleeding to death.

I saw my little boy there.

And I wept.

At that instant, I felt her grief, and the tapestry of humanity that binds us all.

The unspeakable cruelty of a mother having to bury her baby points directly at the selfishness of war.

In truth, mothers-from the United States, Russia, China, India, Iran, Pakistan, Israel-are no different than any other. People are caught in the middle of the Power's struggle to destroy itself. Had the people of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Dresden, to name a few, been represented by their governments? Who will speak for the dead?

This site is dedicated to sharing ideas, and maybe finding ways for us to show our strength. We can do this in many ways. We can protest. We can pray. We can share ideas. We can vote, responsibly.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

How powerful is resistance?

Very powerful.

In the 1980's, we were closer to nuclear war than people could have possibly envisioned.

The United States and the Soviet Union were embroiled in a spending war, with the each matching the other step-for-step. Outside if the Cuban Missile crisis, this was perhaps the most unstable time in human history.

There was a world-wide nuclear freeze movement taking hold at this time as well. Europeans attempted to block American short-range Pershing II missiles from being deployed. Americans were also growing tired of seeing their tax dollars go to nuclear weapons, while domestic needs, like education, were being slashed.

Thanks to the efforts of millions of people world-wide, the Pershing II's weren't deployed. It would still take years before United States and Russia would agree to reduce their nuclear stockpiles. With New START, we are moving in the right direction.

The movie below was shown during prime time to discuss the arms race. Hosted by Paul Newman, it was a powerful and persuasive argument at ending the seemingly unending arms race.

-end to war now

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Saturday, May 22, 2010

An animation that lasted 25 years...

There are certain events in your life that once you are exposed to them, you're never the same.

I experienced that on the 40th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I was an 18 year old kid. I, like countless other kids my age, had been tramautized by "Threads" and "The Day After." We constantly looked up in the sky, searching for conspicuous vapor trails.

This was an age of terror.

I was convinced that I would not see my 19th birthday.

Yet, the one thing that terrified me, and yet gave me hope, was not these well-made television docudramas, but rather a Japanese animated short depitcting the atomic attack on Hiroshima.

It is very powerful stuff.

The images are very stylized, but very graphic. There is charred, melting flesh everywhere. The suffering is of mammoth proportions.

But, there is hope. The shorts starts, and ends with a little boy throwing a paper airplane. The first time, it is in old Hiroshima. The second, it is in a re-built, modern Hiroshima.

The film has lived in my mind for all these years. I had googled it recently, and to my surprise, it was there.

It's every bit as powerful to a 43 year-old father as it was to an 18 year-old boy.

WARNING:
The scenes depicted are very graphic.
This is not recommended for young or sensitive viewers.

-END TO WAR NOW

Thursday, May 13, 2010

The Masterpiece

Fail-Safe (1964)

Release Date: October 7, 1964

Directed by Sidney Lumet
Produced by Sidney Lumet, Charles H. Maguire, and Max E. Youngstein
Starring Henry Fonda, Dan O’Herlihy, Walter Matthau, Larry Hagman, and Dom DeLuise

This film has been called one of best 100 films of all time.

And with good reason.

Based on the critically acclaimed book of the same name, this film shows the tenuous balance of mutual assured destruction; a mistake could extinguish life on earth.

I will not give away the plot, or the details of the movie.

Though “Dr. Strangelove” garnered more attention, the film’s merits assure its place in history. Henry Fonda’s portrayal of the president is fantastic, as that of his translator, Buck, played by Larry Hagman.

Enjoy.

And discuss.

-End To War Now

NOTE: ONLINE VIEWING OF THE ORIGINAL MOVIE HAS BEEN DELETED BY GOOGLE. IT CAN BE VIEWED IN PIECES ON YOUTUBE. MY APOLOGIES.
Fail Safe Trailer

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Nuclear War in Culture

Growing up in the 1980's was a perilous time.

The United States and the Soviet Union were involved in a dangerous game of brinkmanship, growing their nuclear stockpiles at an alarming rate.

Reagan introduced the "Peacekeeper" missile, an ICBM with multiple warheads that could overwhelm most existing Soviet defense systems. He also started the "Star Wars" defense initiative-a network of defensive options designed to knock out incoming Soviet ICBM's. This was a dangerous position-any defensive posture could be seen as an "advantage," causing the other side to escalate their weapons production to counteract such measures. This was also a direct rebuking of the ABM treaty signed in 1968, limiting the use of Anti-Ballistic Missiles to prevent an arms race.

At this time, there were a series of nuclear war movies that were produced. One could call this time the "golden age of nuclear war movies, " if one dared to say that.

End To War Now's new positing will offer links to view these movies, as well as brief descriptions on their plot and their social impact.

Some of the material is very graphic, and not for the faint of heart.

I will warn you if such viewing is appropriate for you.

All of it is compelling, and, all of it is very important.

Peace.

-End To War Now

Countdown to Looking Glass (1983)

Countdown To Looking Glass

In 1983, the world was as close to nuclear war has it had ever come. The United States and NATO countries ran a war game called “Able Archer-"a simulated an attack on the Soviet Union. Though it was a exercise, Soviet Intelligence had intercepted transmissions between Reagan and Prime Minister Thatcher in discussion of launching an attack. The Soviet forces were in complete readiness, anticipating an attack. However, just as quickly as the transmissions started, they abruptly ended.

Reagan was briefed about the Soviet Union's interpretation of the games and their subsequent readiness. He was somber. It was this, and his viewing of “The Day After” the prompted him to meet with Gorbachev to initiate substantial arms talks.

An important film of the time was “Countdown To Looking Glass.” Made in Canada, it was broadcast state-wide on HBO. It was a fictionalized, but very real newscast of an impending nuclear confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union in the straits of Hormuz.

This is very powerful stuff.

There are no scenes of the devastation of nuclear war, but it leaves so much space for the viewer's mind that it is chilling.

Good luck sleeping tonight.

It is an hour and twenty minutes long.

The link to view it is here.

Please share your feelings.

-End To War Now

Countdown to Looking Glass

Special Bulletin (1983)

In the same year that "Countdown To Looking Glass" was released, an NBC aired "Special Bulletin".

And, like "Countdown," it is a fictional news broadcast. No introductory credits were shown, adding to the realism.

A group of anti-nuclear extremists harbored a nuclear device in the port of Charleston. They demanded that the United States provide all the triggering mechanisms in exchange for their not detonating their device.

Like "Countdown" the pace is natural, and quite believable.

Though there were banners posting that the account was fictional, NBC was flooded with calls the night it was aired.

It is one hour and forty minutes long.

-End To War Now

Special Bulletin.

A very brief history of the nuclear arms race....

A very brief history of the nuclear arms race...

1)1945-the first atomic bomb ever detonated. "I am the destroyer of worlds-"J. Robert Oppenheimer

1945-the first use of atomic weapons against a civilian population. The casualties are listed in the as over 100,000, but this is a conservative estimate. Nuclear fallout, and the effects of radiation will kill and wound many thousands more.

3)Operation Crossroads, Bikini Atoll. The US Navy detonates 2 atomic bombs-one above the water(Able), another 90 feet below the surface of the water(Baker). The tests subjected thousands of American servicemen to high levels of radiation, and many of them to suffer from radiologically-based illnesses and death. It also was the beginning of the America's displacement of native people of the Pacific.

4)RDS-1, Semipalatinsk, 1949-the first Soviet test of an atomic weapon. In order to evaluate the effects of the weapon, a town was constructed with wood-frame houses, vehicles,and over 1,500 animals. They were subjected to the heat, blast, and fallout effects of the bomb.

This type of testing, as well as that with human subjects, would be conducted on both sides of cold war. The hysteria that followed this would pressure the United States to develop a thermonuclear weapon.

5)Ivy Mike, 1952, Enewetak atoll-the first fusion device. The world enters the thermonuclear age.With the yield now exceeding 10 megatons, these are truly weapons of mass destruction. The upon the detonation, core is three times hotter than the sun, with temperature reaching 8000 degrees within a15 mile radius.

6) Joe-4,1953, Semipalatinsk-the first Soviet thermonuclear device. The thermonuclear gap was closed in less than a year.

7) Castle Bravo, Bikini Atoll, 1954-the largest nuclear explosion in U.S. history. With a yield twice as large as expected, it was the greatest radiological contamination committed by the U.S., poisoning islanders who lived near the test site, as well the crew of the Japanese fishing boat Diago Fukuryu Maru. This test raised international concern over the safety of atmospheric nuclear testing.

8) Sputnik, 1957, USSR-the first human-made object to orbit the earth. Though it was a mission for scientific research, the concern over the possibility of nuclear-tipped missiles intensified in the United States. Sputnik's booster rockets, the R-7's, had been successfully tested previous to Sputnik-the world's first Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile.

>9)Tsar Bomba, Novsys Zemlya archipelago, 1961. At 57 megatons, it was the most powerful bomb ever built. Originally designed for a yield of 100 megatons, it was scaled down to reduce fallout. The fireball as over 5 miles wide, and the heat emitted could cause third degree burns 62 miles away. The mushroom cloud was 40 miles high-the height of seven Mount Everests.

10) 1962, Cuban Missile Crisis. We looked death right in the face. We almost blinked. I don't know how else I can say it....

11) Partial Test Ban Treaty, 1963. Banned the atmospheric, underwater, and outer space testing of nuclear weapons. The ban was intended to slow the arms race, and reduce the effects of nuclear fallout. It was signed by the United States and the Soviet Union.

12) As of 2010, The United States, Russia, France, Britain, China, India, Pakistan, Israel (undeclared), Iran(assumed), and North Korea have nuclear weapons, with United States, Russia, France, Britain, and China possessing thermonuclear capabilities.

Though the Cold War is over, the specter of a nuclear war still looms. India and Pakistan pose a great threat as their decades long dispute, unsecured stockpiles, and fiery rhetoric is alarming to the international community. Combined with their dense population and close proximity, a nuclear exchange would be disaster for over a billion of the world's population.

Iran, Israel, and North Korea are also a cause for concern, with North Korea active in its ICBM program, and Iran and Israel both with "undeclared" status. There are seismic tests that reveal Israel's nuclear capability, and satellite picture of craters in Northern Iran suggest underground nuclear tests.

Still, the greatest nuclear threat is posed by nuclear terrorism. A small yield nuclear weapon or "dirty bomb," concealed by terrorists, pose a great risk.

-End To War Now

End To War Now

Testament (1982)

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