WORKING TO ACHIEVE A PEACEFUL SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FREE FROM THE THREAT OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS
The unleashing of the power of the atom bomb has changed everything except our mode of thinking, and thus we head toward unparalleled catastrophes.” 
Albert Einstein
 
Thinking clearly and bringing morally grounded practical policies into action is necessary to avoid catastrophe. Presidents Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev did just that when they met in Geneva, Switzerland in 1985.
 
The two leaders put in motion enormous social change by applying common sense to humanity’s greatest existential threat. They stated clearly the need for cooperation to make the world safer and avoid nuclear war. ( https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/research/speeches/112185a )
 
In their Nov. 21, 1985 Joint Statement they stated:
 
The sides, having discussed key security issues, and conscious of the special responsibility of the USSR and the U.S. for maintaining peace, have agreed that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.  Recognizing that any conflict between the USSR and the U.S. could have catastrophic consequences, they emphasized the importance of preventing any war between them, whether nuclear or conventional. They will not seek to achieve military superiority .”
 
This statement helped to create the dynamic that ended the Cold War. Since 1985 the arsenals of these two nations have gone from over 65,000 nuclear warheads to less than 15,000 today. That is not an insignificant accomplishment. But much more work needs to be done. We remain too close to destruction.
 
Today, Russia keeps asking to reaffirm the principle of the unacceptability of nuclear war and gets no answer from the US Administration. This is simply outrageous. In fact it is worse than that, it is terrifying in its implications. ( https://www.newsweek.com/russia-ask-us-no-nuclear-weapons-1443464 )

Despite its being ignored by the public, the existing US policy rejects the insights of Geneva and seems to contemplate actual use of nuclear weapons in war. 
 
The Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Military in its recent Joint Publication 3-72 Nuclear Operations June 11, 2019 states:

Integration of nuclear weapons into a theater of operations requires the consideration of multiple variables. Using nuclear weapons could create conditions for decisive results and the restoration of strategic stability. Specifically, the use of a nuclear weapon will fundamentally change the scope of a battle and create conditions that affect how commanders will prevail in conflict .”
 
“Prevail in conflict” means winning by using nuclear weapons. Such an aspiration is stimulating a new immeasurably dangerous and expensive global nuclear arms race. 
 
Silence in the face of such irrationality is complicity in madness. Such a policy is based on mythical thinking and such dreaming could lead to a global nightmare. We are committed to stopping it.

We share herein two speeches that are grounded in insights by two of America’s wisest figures of our time: Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Father Thomas Merton. We are also pleased to share that the insights of one of America’s wisest diplomats, Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr. is gaining international traction and will, we believe, lead to progressive action. Such progress will not titillate the public media but in the real world, it matters. We care about reality not dreams.

Warmly,

Jonathan Granoff
President, Global Security Institute


The Alternate Route
The JCPOA (Iran Deal) and the INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) Treaty, both now abandoned by the U.S., were integral parts of a web of constraints reversing the nuclear arms race and preventing new arms races from being started. The START Treaty, the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, is now at risk. If the START Treaty were to fall, it could set both the U.S. and Russia on a full rebuilding of arsenals, though now in a much more complex and dangerous multipolar world.

Ambassador Thomas Graham, Jr. is a former senior US diplomat who was involved in negotiating every major international arms control and non-proliferation agreement from 1970 to 1997, including the INF. He served at the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency for three decades, including as Acting Director, and was the US special representative for arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament. Ambassador Thomas Graham, Jr. is a Global Security Institute and Board Member, and a co-founder of GSI's Nonpartisan Security Group.

Ambassador Graham and GSI President jointly raised the alarm on the abandonment of these constraints in Newsweek magazine , saying that " …From 1988 when the INF entered into force, to its full implementation in 1991, over 850 US and over 1,700 Soviet mid-range missiles were destroyed. Mid-range arsenals capable of rapidly devastating Europe were retired... [L]imitations on such deployments are ending, and those destabilizing arsenals can return.

“This seriously diminishes US security and leaves Russia free to threaten our NATO allies and create discord where there once had been unity. The follow-on consequences are all too apparent…” ( read article )

In his book The Alternate Route , Ambassador Graham lays out another critical approach. 
"Eventual achievement of nuclear disarmament has been an objective and a dream of the world community since the dawn of the Nuclear Age. Considerable progress has been made over the decades, but this has always required close US-Russian cooperation. At present, further progress is likely blocked by the return of Vladimir Putin to the Russian presidency and the toxic US-Russia relationship.
 
"The classic road toward nuclear disarmament appears to be closed for the foreseeable future, but there may be another route."

Ambassador Thomas Graham, Jr. is a Global Security Institute and Board Member, and a co-founder of GSI's Nonpartisan Security Group. His newest book, The Alternate Route,  examines the possibilities of nuclear-weapon-free zones as a pathway to worldwide nuclear disarmament.
Nuclear Weapons Free Zones and Advancing the Cause of Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament
There are 115 nations in nuclear weapons free zones free zones . To strengthen their capacity to advance nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament, the UN Mission of Indonesia hosted a luncheon for UN diplomats on June 18, 2019, with formal presentations by Ambassador Graham, and GSI President Jonathan Granoff. The meeting, was graciously convened by H.E. Mohammed Kurniadi Koba, Deputy Permanent Representative of Indonesia to the UN and attended by representatives of more than 20 countries. It was entitled Nuclear Weapons Free Zones and Advancing the Cause of Nuclear Disarmament and included a lively question and answer period after the presentations. 
Remembering Hiroshima

The Power of Vision
26th Annual Interfaith Peace Gathering
in Commemoration of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Atomic Bombings
Monday, August 5, 2019
Japan Society Auditorium
New York City

photo: Hayato Iki & Tomoko Iki,
Jonathan Granoff,
President Global Security Institute
Representative to the United Nations of the World Summit of Noble Peace Laureates; and,Ambassador for Peace, Security and Nuclear Disarmament of the Parliament of the World’s Religions
GSI President Jonathan Granoff with
Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations, H.E. Mr. Yasuhisa Kawamura

Huffington Post: Never Forget Virtue, Never Forget Hiroshima, Never Give Up Working for Peace.

Hiroshima Never Again: Principles for Inner and Outer Peace
(An Homage to Thomas Merton)

On the occasion of the
72nd Anniversary of the Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Pax Christi Metro New York,


To begin to contemplate the awesome event of August 6, 1945, when in a flash of light, waves of heat and radiation virtually annihilated the population of Hiroshima and warned humanity that although we might have the power to destroy the gift of creation we surely do not have the right, we should consider prayer.

This is a precarious moment with over 15,000 nuclear weapons in existence and thousands poised to unleash unspeakable suffering and destruction, world leaders acting like petulant children degrading the tools of law and morality, ignoring our shared interests in addressing real factual global needs such as protecting the climate and the oceans and ending poverty, a media focused on the crisis de jour while ignoring the over 95% of the world’s nuclear arms in Russia and the US which deploy thousands on alert status, and a public fascinated by the spectacle culture and its devices of mass distraction. Our political leaders ignore the fact that the majority of nations are parties to nuclear weapons free zones making the entire Southern Hemisphere virtually nuclear weapons free, that the majority of nations have voted for a treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons and the nuclear weapons states have adopted a legal duty to negotiate the elimination of nuclear weapons, which they substantially ignore while either modernizing and/or expanding their arsenals.

If prayer was ever appropriate on any day, it surely is today. A Nuclear Prayer can be found at the web site of the United Religions Initiative where it is recited by an informed group that includes former Secretary of Defense William Perry, former Secretary of State George Shultz and Ambassadors Thomas Graham and James Goodby. It was inspired and penned by Rev. Bill Swing:

Move the Nuclear Weapons Money

Move the Nuclear Weapons Money is a campaign that Global Security Institute is very proud to be a part of. It was initiated by Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, and three other organizations we work closely with.

The aims of the campaign are to 1) cut nuclear budgets 2) encourage divestment from companies manufacturing nuclear weapons and their delivery systems and 3) reallocate these budgets and investments to meet economic, social and environmental need – such as ending poverty, protecting the climate, supporting renewable energy, creating jobs, and providing adequate healthcare, housing and education for all.

Please take a moment to find out more about this valuable campaign and its partners.
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