Bromley Borough CND News

To renew or subscribe to Bromley Borough CND go to this page Grateful thanks to those of you who are officers, attend meetings, campaign, give donations and pay their subs. As usual the newsletter has been reduced to one per year mainly recording our campaigning. Subs of £5 are now due - please send them to Tahrir Swift [use tear-off slip at end of newsletter ]. CND still very much needs support especially with plans for the US to withdraw from the INF treaty , the challenges of climate change exacerbated by pollution caused by continued conflicts and civil wars, the resultant refugee crisis, the campaign to get UK to sign up for the Nuclear Ban Treaty , the selling of arms to Saudi Arabia and the bombing of Yemen. There are also concerns regarding UK's plans for Trident renewal, the use of drones and the dangers from nuclear power pollution from the Fukushima fall out. It would be really supportive if local Bromley Borough CND members could also join National CND, if the...

It is with great sadness we report the sudden death of John Large who passed away on November 2nd after a heart attack. John was a highly knowledgeable and independent nuclear engineer who gave valuable help to UK environmental groups especially in the 1980s and 1990s, and international groups more recently. John was instrumental in providing the technical backing to environmental groups who successfully campaigned for the closure of the San Onofre nuclear power station in California US, in 2013, for safety reasons, following the failure of its replacement steam generators. John’s technical knowledge of the dangers of nuclear power stations was deep and wide as a brief perusal of his website will show. By Dr Ian Fairlie, CND council member

Ted Seay , Stuart Parkinson , Steven Rose TS: New military technology re shape global security situation. Use of algorithmic warfare (computer automated war) and ‘Drone swarms’  such as the attack on Russian base in Syria . 13 drones with bombs carried out the attack. There are hyper velocity technology used in weapons making it impossible to intercept an attack. Use of Artificial Intelligence in creating autonomous weapons. These are all worrying developments making the security of  our world even more uncertain. Therefore the claims that nuclear weapons offer stability through ‘deterrence’ is even more weak if not obsolete. TS: “US presidents come and go, but US military policies are hardly affected. The real culprits are the US Dep of Defence (the military), department of energy (the urge to dominate energy sources) and government agencies working hand in glove with large weapons manufacturing corporations. Plus the corporations themselves” A regional nuclear ...

Jon Schwarz 4th May 2019 THE BULLETIN OF  the Atomic Scientists currently has its Doomsday Clock set to two minutes to midnight — the closest we’ve been to self-obliteration in  nuclear history . But nuclear weapons are more than just a terrifying threat to every living thing on earth. For decades, they’ve been a terrific way to make money. A  new report  from PAX, a Dutch peace organization, both illuminates how profitable it can be for multinational corporations to manufacture Armageddon and provides a roadmap for taking the money out of mass death. The PAX report identifies a total of $116 billion in current contracts between governments and the private sector to design, build, and maintain the world’s nuclear arsenals. The actual amount may be significantly higher, since all nine nuclear powers maintain some degree of opacity about their nuclear programs. “We know what we can trace,” says Susi Snyder, the report’s principal author, “but there’s defin...

Peace One Day – Sonnet 1 We long for peace and so we sadly ponder what’s needed to achieve that precious state as, fleeing from war, we see so many wander homeless, lost despairing of their fate. “Peace is maintained by force, yes sometimes terror!” or so glib politicians have us think, complacent and self-serving they’re in error, their recklessness may lead us to the brink. While the overlords deploy the pieces, moving people on the gameboard as they please, to bend the devious game to suit their thesis: preserving power, wealth and lives of ease. We must reclaim humanity at last to break the grip of greed that holds us fast. © Leon Silver September 2018 Ghosts of Fukushima A surge of mist from off the sea Enfolds the roofs and eaves Piles up in empty doorways And whispers to the leaves It enters without asking Through a pane left open wide And listens to the scuttle Of tiny feet inside It sits upon a broken chair And beckons with its h...

BEN CHACKO FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2018 Green MP Caroline Lucas opened proceedings, saying CND was about “hope — not in terms of some fluffy idea but as a very practical response to the huge threats that we face.” The meeting was sponsored by the National Education Union, whose joint general secretary Kevin Courtney sent greetings, while rail union RMT was represented by its president Sean Hoyle. Veteran campaigner Ernest Rodker recalled the first march from Aldermaston and Londoners “singing Don’t You Hear the H Bombs Thunder and cheering the marchers on” while another hero of the peace movement, Bruce Kent, derided the government’s claim to possess an “independent” nuclear deterrent when it is delivered by US missiles. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the existence of CND meant “there has always been a challenge to the idea that you go to war, drop bombs and worry about the consequences afterwards.” Pax Christi general secretary Pat Gaffney detailed the ro...

by  Roger Kimmel Smith May 14, 2018 Leaders of the international peace movement met in New York City over the weekend to grapple with an increasing threat of nuclear war. Taking a cue from the  Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists  and its famous Doomsday Clock, a day-long  conference , held Saturday, May 12, at Judson Memorial Church, was titled “Two Minutes to Midnight.” Opening keynote speaker Noam Chomsky struck a dour tone, wondering whether the human species is an “evolutionary error.” “An objective and informed observer might conclude that, since World War II, the species has been dedicated to establishing the thesis that humans are simply a mistake,” he  declared . Noam Chomsky wondered whether the human species is an “evolutionary error.” Hanging heavily over the proceedings were President Donald Trump’s announced withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal—reneging on a U.S. promise formally endorsed by a unanimous U.N. Security Council—and Isr...