Nukewatch

Working for a nuclear-free future since 1979

  • Issues
    • Weekly Column
    • Depleted Uranium
    • Direct Action
    • Lake Superior Barrels
    • Environmental Justice
    • North Korea
    • Nuclear Power
      • Chernobyl
      • Fukushima
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • On The Bright Side
    • Radiation Exposure
    • Radioactive Waste
    • Renewable Energy
    • Uranium Mining
  • Quarterly Newsletter
    • Quarterly Newsletter
    • Newsletter Archives
  • Resources
    • Nuclear Heartland Book
    • Fact Sheets
    • Reports, Studies & Publications
      • The New Nuclear Weapons: $1.74 Trillion for H-bomb Profiteers and Fake Cleanups
      • Nuclear Power: Dead In the Water It Poisoned
      • Thorium Fuel’s Advantages as Mythical as Thor
      • Greenpeace on Fukushima 2016
      • Drinking Water at Risk: Toxic Military Wastes Haunt Lake Superior
    • Nukewatch in the News
    • Links
    • Videos
  • About
    • About Nukewatch
    • Contact Us
  • Get Involved
    • Action Alerts!
    • Calendar
    • Workshops
  • Donate

July 10, 2019 by Nukewatch 2 Comments

Activists Bring “Cease and Desist” Order To Nuclear Weapons Base

Eleven international peace activists entered the main gate of the Büchel Air Base southwest of Frankfurt, Germany to deliver a self-named Treaty Enforcement Order declaring that the sharing of US nuclear weapons at the base is a “criminal conspiracy to commit war crimes.”

BUECHEL, Germany — Eleven international peace activists entered the Büchel Air Base southwest of Frankfurt early this morning to deliver a self-named Treaty Enforcement Order declaring that the sharing of US nuclear weapons at the base is a “criminal conspiracy to commit war crimes.”

Upon entering the base’s main gate with a printed “cease and desist order,” insisted on seeing the base commander to deliver the order in person.

“We refuse to be complicit in this crime,” said Brian Terrell of Voices for Creative Nonviolence in Chicago, Illinois. “We call for the nuclear bombs to be returned to the US immediately. The Germans want these nuclear weapons out of Germany, and so do we.”

The group included people from Germany, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. All eleven were detained by military and civilian authorities and were released after providing identification.

This is the third year in a row that a delegation of US peace activists has joined Europeans and others in protesting the US nuclear weapons at Büchel. The local group Nonviolent Action for Abolition of Nuclear Weapons (GAAA) convenes the International Action Week, demanding permanent ouster of the US nuclear weapons, cancellation of plans to replace today’s B61s with new hydrogen bombs, and Germany’s ratification of the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

“Delivery of the ‘Cease and Desist Order’ is an act of crime prevention,” said John LaForge, of the US peace group Nukewatch and coordinator of the US delegation. “The authorities think the entry is a matter of trespass. But these nuclear bomb threats violate the UN Charter, the Treaty on Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.” he said, adding, “Interrupting government criminality is a duty of responsible citizenship.”

The activists included: (from the United States) Susan Crane, Richard Bishop, Andrew Lanier, Jr., Brian Terrell, Ralph Hutchison, and Dennis DuVall; (from the UK) Richard Barnard; (from The Netherlands) Margriet Bos, and Susan van der Hijden; and (from Germany) Dietrich Gerstner, and Birke Kleinwächter.

Susan van der Hijden of Amsterdam, who is just back from the US where she visited the Kansas City, Kansas site of a factory working on parts of the new replacement bomb, known as the B61-12. “The planning and training to use the US H-bombs that goes on at Büchel cannot be legal, because organizing mass destruction has been a criminal act since the Nuremberg Trials after WWII,” van der Hijden said.

Filed Under: Direct Action, Nuclear Weapons, On The Bright Side, US Bombs Out of Germany

July 6, 2019 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

3rd US Delegation to Join German Peace Camp

Nukewatch Quarterly Summer 2019
A blockade of the main gate at Büchel June 2, had a mock B61-12.

Nukewatch and the German disarmament group Nonviolent Action to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, have organized a third delegation of US peace activists to the peace camp near Germany’s Büchel Air Base. In 2017, 2018 and again this summer, US peace activists will join the camp’s “International Week,” July 8 to 16, when disarmament campaigners from around the world convene there to confront US and German nuclear war preparations, and demand the ouster of US nuclear weapons from Germany.

The nationwide German coalition “Büchel Is Everywhere! Nuclear Weapons-Free Now!”—a “campaign council” of 68 groups and organizations—has worked for years to rid Germany of the 20 remaining US nuclear weapons, known as B61s, still deployed at the base, located about three hours west of Frankfurt. The coalition, which this year welcomed Nukewatch as its first international member group, demands that the government permanently remove  the US nuclear weapons, reject the replacement of the bombs with the planned B61-version 12, and ratify the new Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear weapons. At present, a classified “nuclear sharing” agreement allows the transfer of US nuclear weapons to Germany, where its Tornado fighter jet pilots threaten and train to drop the B61s if orders come from a US president.

CeeCee Anderson, from College Park, Georgia and representing the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, shown here marching near the base last July, will join the delegation to Germany for a second time this summer.

This summer’s delegation includes Brian Terrell, of Maloy, Iowa, representing Voices for Creative Nonviolence; Col. Ann Wright (USAF Ret.) of Veterans For Peace, Hawaii; Cee’Cee’ Anderson, from College Park, Georgia for Women’s Action for New Directions and the watchdog group Alliance for Nuclear Accountability; Susan Crane from the Redwood City Calif. Catholic Worker; Andrew Lanier, Jr., from the San Jose, Calif. Catholic Worker; Ralph Hutchison, Kevin Collins & Cindy Collins, all from the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance in  Knoxville, Tennessee; Richard Bishop from the Missoula Montana Catholic Worker; and Fred Galluccio from Physicians for Social Responsibility in Orange County, California.

Spring “Go-In” Action Sees 17 Nuclear Resisters Defy Air Base’s New Fence

Seventeen peace activists acting in two groups conducted a “go-in” protest April 30th at the base, near the city of Cochem, Germany. The nonviolent action was part of a long-running series of civil protests against the deployment and threatened use of at least 20 US nuclear gravity bombs at the German base. Part of the group of 17 dug under the newly erected second perimeter fence and occupied the space between the two barriers. A second group clipped through both fences and were met inside by German military security personnel.

The April action was the first major civil resistance at the base since authorities, over the winter, constructed the additional 16-kilometer fence around the base. Two fences now enclose the hilltop airport and fighter jet runway, bunkers for the nuclear weapons and jets, base housing, grammar school, and assorted infrastructure facilities.

Most of the 17 activists had participated in previous go-in actions at the base, and all of them were released after being issued “stay away” orders warning them to keep 200 meters distant from the fence line for 24 hours.

This year has seen an increase in court actions taken against the frequent resisters who have occupied the base. Court letters demanding civil forfeitures have been mailed to two dozen of the 70 people who cut or climbed into the base last year. The letters, arriving just before a statute of limitations deadline, can and have been contested by the abolitionists, who are later told to appear for trial.

Over the years, several intrepid resisters have been jailed for short periods for refusing to pay court-ordered fines. The judicial authorities light hand in charging political protesters is in stark contrast to US courts that charge multiple felonies and impose long prison terms for practically identical actions.

Air Force Websites Confirm Open Secret: US Nuclear Weapons Deployed in Germany

US and German military officials never officially admit in public that US nuclear weapons are deployed at the Büchel Air Base. The policy of “neither confirming nor denying” the location of nuclear weapons is a general one common to all nuclear-armed branches of the military. However, the Büchel Air Base website says it is home to the US Air Force’s 702nd Munitions Support Squadron or MUNSS. The  website also declares that the 702nd is “responsible for ownership, custody, maintenance, and release of a protection level 1 stockpile…” (Emphasis added.)

A “protection level 1 stockpile” is air force jargon for a stash of nuclear weapons, as its own open source documents show. The Shaw Air Force Base Instruction 31-102 6, of Dec. 6, 2012, is an Air Force instruction manual available online that openly defines protection level 1 (PL 1). In instruction 4.7.1., it says, “Examples of PL 1 resources include nuclear weapons and … systems critical to the success of active nuclear missions…”[1]

[1] https://static.e-publishing.af.mil/production/1/shawafb/publication/shawafbi31-102/shawafbi31-102.pdf

Filed Under: B61 Bombs in Europe, Direct Action, Newsletter Archives, Nuclear Weapons, On The Bright Side, Quarterly Newsletter, US Bombs Out of Germany

July 6, 2019 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

Congressional Bills Challenge US Nuclear War Systems, Plans and Policies

Nukewatch Quarterly Summer 2019

Tri-Valley CAREs in California reports that Congressional representatives can step up to seven proposed bills that would reduce, restrict and even abolish US nuclear weapons systems. The legislative “sparks must be fanned by grassroots action in order to grow into full-fledged policy change” and progress toward nuclear disarmament.” Using the capitol switchboard (202) 224-3121, let your lawmakers know you want them to sign on. To see the full text of the bills, go to Congress.gov and type in the bill number. The bills in need of co-sponsors and vocal support include:

  • H.R. 1086, the Hold the LYNE (low-yield nuclear explosive) Act of 2019, would prohibit production and positioning of a “more usable,” submarine-launched nuclear warhead (the W76-2). Senate tandem bill is S. 401.
  • H.R. 669, Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2019, would forbid the president from using a nuclear weapons attack without a Congressional declaration of war. Senate tandem bill is S. 200.
  • H.R. 921, to “Establish the Policy of No First Use of Nuclear Weapons,” states simply: “It is the policy of the United States to not use nuclear weapons first.” Senate tandem bill is S. 272.
  • H.Res. 302, is a resolution (weaker than a H.R. law) “embracing the goals and provision of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons,” renounces first-use of nuclear weapons, ends the one-person/presidential power to use nuclear weapon attacks, removes US nuclear weapons from alert status, and cancels plans for replacement of the nuclear weapons complex. No tandem resolution in Senate. —For more info on the bills visit <trivalleycares.org>

Filed Under: Newsletter Archives, Nuclear Weapons, On The Bright Side, Quarterly Newsletter, War

July 4, 2019 by Nukewatch 1 Comment

US Delegation to Join Protests against US Nuclear Weapons Now Used in Germany

2019 Nukewatch US Peace Delegation to Germany L to R: Brian Terrell, Andrew Liener, Susan Crane, CeeCee Anderson, Ralph Hutchison, Richard Bishop, Cindy Collins, Kevin Collins, John LaForge

A delegation of 11 peace activists from the United States arrives at a German peace camp Friday July 5 to join protests against the deployment of US nuclear weapons there.

The delegation, coordinated by the group Nukewatch in Wisconsin, joins the “International Action Camp” focused on the Büchel Air Base, the site of scores of protests for over 20 years because it is home to the US Air Force’s 702nd Munitions Support Squadron and its “protection level 1 stockpile” of approximately 20 US B61 hydrogen bombs.*

The US delegation is third in three years to join the campaign to rid Büchel of the US Air Force’s nuclear weapons, the last remaining in Germany.

An annual event coordinated by the German peace group Nonviolent Action for Abolition of Nuclear Arms (GAAA), International Action Camp is modeled after efforts that ousted nuclear-armed US Pershing and Cruise missiles from Germany in the 1980s. During the camp from July 7 to 16 (https://buechel-atombombenfrei.jimdo.com/international/international-action-camp/), the delegates — from Georgia, Montana, California, Tennessee, Arizona, and Wisconsin — will join colleagues from Germany, The Netherlands, the UK, Austria, and a group of student peace workers from around the world.

The delegates share a shocked alarm over U.S. military production of a new B61 H-bomb (version 12) and its plans to replace the B61s now at Büchel and at NATO air bases in Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands and Turkey. Production of the B61-12 has been delayed recently by faulty components. The United States is the only country in the world that deploys its nuclear weapons in other countries.

“In view of the 2017 treaty ban, it’s clear the world wants to abolish nuclear weapons,” said John LaForge, coordinator of the delegation for a third time, and a staff member of the nuclear watchdog group Nukewatch, in Wisconsin, referring to the UN General Assembly vote to adopt the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. “To spend tens of billions of dollars replacing the B61s instead of eliminating them, when tens of millions need disaster relief, food aid, housing, and medical care, is a criminal waste,” LaForge said.

The action camp is one of dozens of protests against Büchel’s US weapons which began March 26 and continue to August 9. Anti-nuclear activists with Germany’s nation-wide campaign council “Büchel is Everywhere! Nuclear Weapons-Free Now!” launched the 20-week-long series of nonviolent protests four years ago. The council is a coalition of 68 peace and justice organizations that have embraced nonviolent civil resistance at the base in order to achieve: 1) the withdrawal of the US nuclear bombs; 2) cancellation of replacement plans for the B61 bombs; and 3) Germany’s adoption of the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The actions continue through August 9, the 74th anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan in 1945.

Under a NATO policy called “nuclear sharing” the five NATO governments that deploy the U.S. B61s claim that their nuclear cooperation does not violate the 1970 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Articles I and II of the treaty prohibit nuclear weapons from being transferred to, or accepted from, other countries.

The delegation includes: Cee’Cee’ Anderson, of College Park, Georgia, with Georgia Woman’s Action for New Directions; Richard Bishop, from the Missoula, Montana Catholic Worker; Susan Crane, from the Redwood City, California Catholic Worker; Ralph Hutchison, Kevin Collins, Cindy Collins, with the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance in Knoxville, Tennessee; Dennis DuVall, formerly of Prescott, Arizona, with Veterans for Peace (now residing in Germany); Dr. Fred Galluccio from Newport Beach, California, with the Orange County Physicians for Social Responsibility; John LaForge, staff member with Nukewatch in Luck, Wisconsin; Andrew Lanier, Jr., with the San Jose, California Catholic Worker; and Brian Terrell, with Voices For Creative Nonviolence, who lives at the Strangers and Guests Catholic Worker Farm in Maloy, Iowa.

Germany’s Tactical Air Force Squadron 33 at Büchel carries out the formal “nuclear sharing agreement” between the United States and Germany, reportedly using its PA200 Tornado fighter jets to practice flying the US bombs to target areas for detonation in the event of an order from the White House.

* https://www.spangdahlem.af.mil/Units/702nd-Munitions-Support-Squadron/; and https://static.e-publishing.af.mil/production/1/shawafb/publication/shawafbi31-102/shawafbi31-102.pdf, see Sec. 4.7.1; and http://www.luftpost-kl.de/luftpost-archiv/LP_07/LP22207_031107.pdf

Filed Under: Direct Action, Nuclear Weapons, On The Bright Side, US Bombs Out of Germany

July 4, 2019 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

German Police Clear Blockade of Nuclear Weapons Base

Police cart off a Buchel blockader. Photo by John LaForge

Originally published by Nuclear Resister.

This year’s 20-week campaign of nonviolent action demanding withdrawal of the estimated 20 U.S. nuclear weapons stockpiled in Germany is underway.

Social and peace action groups from across Germany and overseas have taken on days or a week of responsibility for maintaining regular protest at the gates of Büchel Air base, where the weapons are kept. Büchel is Everywhere, organizers of the annual campaign, have established a peace encampment nearby that provides logistical support for each group of activists.

On June 28, more than 40 people representing the Stop Ramstein Campaign (a base implicated in U.S. drone warfare) arrived to blockade the main gate. Two smaller groups separated and walked to block the two other gates into Büchel.

The base was totally blocked for about two hours on the unseasonably hot Friday afternoon, preventing commuting personnel from leaving for the weekend. Police eventually carried demonstrators off the road and conducted ID checks before they were free to go.

On Monday, June 24, Gerd Büntzly was fined following an appeal to 25 hours of daily wages. He had been convicted of trespass and property damage for cutting the fence and sitting-in atop a nuclear weapons bunker at Büchel air base in Germany in July 2017, with four American peace activists. The Americans have not been prosecuted despite presenting themselves in court with Büntzly. He chose to serve 10 days in jail in lieu of the fine.

For more information, visit buechel-atombombenfrei.jimdo.com.

Filed Under: Direct Action, Nuclear Weapons, On The Bright Side, US Bombs Out of Germany

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • …
  • 10
  • Next Page »

Stay Connected

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Subscribe

Donate

Facebook

Facebook By Weblizar Powered By Weblizar

Categories

  • B61 Bombs in Europe
  • Chernobyl
  • Depleted Uranium
  • Direct Action
  • Environment
  • Environmental Justice
  • Fukushima
  • Lake Superior Barrels
  • Military Spending
  • Newsletter Archives
  • North Korea
  • Nuclear Power
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Office News
  • On The Bright Side
  • Photo Gallery
  • Quarterly Newsletter
  • Radiation Exposure
  • Radioactive Waste
  • Renewable Energy
  • Sulfide Mining
  • Through the Prism of Nonviolence
  • Uncategorized
  • Uranium Mining
  • US Bombs Out of Germany
  • War
  • Weekly Column

Contact Us

(715) 472-4185
nukewatch1@lakeland.ws

Address:
740A Round Lake Road
Luck, Wisconsin 54853
USA

Donate To Nukewatch

News & Information on Nuclear Weapons,
Power, Waste & Nonviolent Resistance

Stay Connected

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

© 2019 · Nukewatch