Many thanks to John Raby for his important letter, “Ignoring the nuclear threat” (Monitor, Oct. 28).
Raby is quite right. The old dangers of nuclear conflict are again rising, partly due to Donald Trump’s accelerated nuclear “modernization” and abandonment of the 1986 INF treaty, which removed several thousand short- and medium-range missiles from Europe. That treaty led to the remarkable U.S.-Russia START treaty and the end of the Cold War. Since 1990, START has reduced the Russia-U.S. ICBM stockpiles by tens of thousands and has given the world hope that a nuke-free future – as mandated by the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT, ratified by 191 nations, including the U.S. and Russia) – will be a reality. START will expire in 2021.
Raby wisely reminds us that though the presidential debates are on, we’ve heard little about the nuclear threat – a shortcoming he rightly calls “disheartening and irresponsible.”
What’s to be done? Let’s abandon the Cold War “truth” that peace depends on preparation to use nuclear weapons, not only to respond to attack but also to what appears an imminent attack – our mad “first use” option. It’s the main reason we keep 1,000 ICBMs on hair-trigger alert – a recipe for eventual catastrophe.
Before November 2020 let’s see some candidates acknowledging the nuclear problem and championing the U.N. and the NPT’s goal of nuclear disarmament. And, for his or her first term, promise to:
■Stop nuclear “modernization” and the production of small “usable” nukes.
■Take ICBMs off alert.
■Adopt a “no first use” policy.
RAY PERKINS
Concord