Helen Caldicott: “America still thinks it can win a nuclear war”

Jane Stillwater is a freelance journalist, war correspondent, blogger, political Cassandra and author of “Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips for Touring Today’s Middle East,” now available on Amazon.com. Her latest motto is “Stop Wall Street and War Street from destroying our world.”

Jane Stillwater with Dr CaldicottI just attended the 31st annual national Veterans for Peace convention here in Berkeley and was truly inspired by the hundreds of vets who attended it, and by their organization’s heroic stand for peace. As one vet put it, “Been there, done that — war doesn’t work.”

And while wandering around the grounds of the convention center before the festivities began, I ran into Helen Caldicott, an Australian doctor who has bravely spoken out against the use of nuclear weapons ever since the terrible days of America’s Cold War. I’m not sure what I was expecting that she would look like — perhaps Super Girl in a cape? But she was just an ordinary-looking person, like someone you would meet on the street. Until she started speaking to an audience of 300-plus veterans. And then her eyes flashed, her voice rang out like a warning bell and her passion came alive.

“I am a pediatrician,” she told us, “and if you love this planet, if you love the next generation of babies, you will change the priority of your lives — because right now, America’s top priority seems to be for us to come as close to nuclear war as we possibly can.”

“A baby is a baby is a baby — born with that beautiful purity of soul. We have to tap into that. But instead our political representatives have become corporate prostitutes. Americans hold the golden key to the future. But instead, Americans are holding the world for ransom with their guns and their bombs.” And according to Caldecott, what a lot of bombs we do have!

And as if all those mega-stockpiles of bombs we have now aren’t enough, “the government is currently planning to spend one trillion dollars more on replacing every single bomb, tank and missile we own.”

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/node/68527

And if that’s not scary enough for ya, America still thinks it can fight and win a nuclear war. No no no and no! The powers that be think that dropping 100 nuclear bombs on 100 cities will win the current war-de-jour for us. “But all that will do is end life on earth.”

And the most scary part of all is that, “It could happen tonight. It could happen right now. We are closer now to nuclear annihilation than ever, even closer than we were during the Cold War. North Korea and Iran cannot end the world. But the sociopaths in charge of our nuclear weapons can. For instance, Clinton has never seen a war that she doesn’t like.”

And Americans don’t clearly understand what a nuclear war will be like either. “Everything throughout the world will be vaporized and burned.” If we understood this, we would all be taking to the streets in protest right now. Perhaps we think that American exceptionalism will save us? “What exactly are Americans exceptional at? Nothing. They don’t even have kangaroos.”

Every single city in America is targeted by the Russians right now. “Twelve H-bombs are targeted on New York City alone. Every city in America is targeted with at least one nuclear missile. And Russian cities are targeted the same way by America. And all this insanity is at the mercy of human fallibility too.”

And fighting with Russia is crazy. Continuing to stock Europe with nuclear weapons pointed at Russia is like waving a red flag at a bull. It would be as if Russia was arming Canada with nuclear missiles aimed straight at Washington DC. Not cool at all. “The Russians will fight to the last person to defend themselves, just like they did against Hitler. Putin is being set up as the evil one in this scenario, but it is the USA that is the evil one,” by even thinking that they can actually win a nuclear war.

Caldicott spoke passionately about her motivation for trying to stop nuclear war — motivated by her love of our babies who will grow up to be our next generation. And we can only hope that these babies will grow up to be wiser than us. Or at least that they will even get a chance to grow up!

Next up to speak at the convention? Andrew Bracevich, Oliver Stone, Roy Scranton, Rhodessa Jones, Ann Jones, Antonia Juhasz, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Patrick McCann, Gerry Condon, Col. Ann Wright, David Cobb, Brian Willson, Kathy Kelly, Zahra Billoo, Jonathan Hutto and Daniel Ellsberg — among others. Dr. Caldicott is a hard act to follow but let’s see what they have to say.

Originally published: http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/helen-caldecott-america-still-thinks-it.html

6 thoughts on “Helen Caldicott: “America still thinks it can win a nuclear war””

  1. Michael J. Legare

    Dr. Caldicott, how can an everyday individual get started on doing something to get people involved in waking up that the time is really NOW or never? Getting people to rise to doing what they can do in the now – as if it were the second chance they will wish they could have back — once it’s too late of course.

    Tell me three things most people can do and should do right now to do something that will help wake people up and that will not cause them to appear like a lunatic? Not that I care about looking like a lunatic but if I appear like one then no one would listen. This is Mike Legare from the Peace River area in Alberta and you are I have had talks before. Read many of your books and even wrote a book myself. Not on the nuclear issue but on child safety in an age of missing women that has reached epidemic proportions. My book is entitled: When Things Seem Odd: Polly and the Internal Guardian” https://www.amazon.ca/When-Things-Seem-Odd-Internal-ebook/dp/B01AOJMMJS

  2. Andrew Glikson

    Dear Hellen

    I enclose the link to the brochure of the new book “The Plutocene: Blueprints for a Post-Anthropocene Greenhouse Earth”.
    http://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319572369

    As communicated in the summary appended below, global warming is progressing at an unprecedented pace which, combined with the nuclear threat, poses an existentiaol risk danger to humanity and nature.

    The book was written in honor of people trying to protect humanity and nature, including your name.

    kind regards

    Dr Andrew Glikson
    Earth and Paleoclimate scientist
    Australian National University
    18.7.2017

  3. Dr. Caldicott – on the psychophysiology of “why men kill” – check out the original human culture, the Bushmen, with no war – the male anthropologists covered up “The Harmless People” book by Dr. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas – all the males train at puberty in sublimation through fasting and trance dancing – Choma or Tshoma, a month long training. Dr. Bradford Keeney did that training – Dr. Megan Biesele – I got research details on my blog – Dr. Robert Sapolsky on male ejaculation. http://voidisyinyang.blogspot.com – so that vagus nerve orgasm is trained in males instead of the stress cortisol spike at ejaculation from the sympathetic nervous system. This turned into the qigong training in China and yoga in India – teaching males how to control their lower body as “staying power.”

  4. America can not win a nuclear war. How to teach that? You are so fearless and so right. How does one help? Most people I speak to seem bored and say they have no power. Not true. If Americans really knew the truth about nuclear weapons and power I believe they would do something. Something; anything. It is terrifying.

    1. Jean-Claude Meslin

      A certain quantity of American neo-cons like criminal Mc Cain believe than America’s First Strike Capability will allow Washington to win a Worldwide nuclear war. Those peoples are so crazy than one question must be asked. What will do a country who has a so powerful military arsenal at her disposal if her system collapse and the US elite loose its fortunes and priviledges. This is why I suggest than a total embargo of that country by set until the decent American people has cleaned the mess made by a tiny minority of his citizen …

  5. Dr. Caldicott, Don’t know if you remember me. We wrote several years ago. I am horrified at what appears to be our new nuclear policy per Trump. Feel overwhelmed. I am the lady from Troy, IL. Really want to do something. Must say you have convinced me a long time ago and the nuke conversation on the tv seems like they are somewhat clueless. Thank you for all your work. It is a MIRACLE we are all still here.

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