B61 Bombs in Europe

April 7, 2025 by Nukewatch 4 Comments

U.S. Anti-War/Anti-Poverty Activist Ends 7.5-Month Prison Term in Germany

By John LaForge

Solitary nonviolent witness appears painfully ineffective in the age of state terrorism and vigilante shooting sprees. Yet Susan Crane of Redwood City, California, who was released from prison in

Susan Crane and John LaForge in 2018, at the main gate to Büchel Air Base as part of Nukewatch-sponsored delegations to International Action Week.

Koblenz, Germany, on January 17, after spending 7.5 months incarcerated over protest trespass convictions (and refusing to pay fines), has perhaps influenced thousands of people in Europe and the States with her example. Crane’s prison time stemmed from a string of bold protests against the U.S. nuclear weapons stationed at Germany’s Büchel Air Force Base southeast of Cologne, a provocative and destabilizing deployment that is barely even mentionable in mainstream press.

On June 4, 2024, Crane began serving a 230-day sentence at the Wöllstein-Rohrbach prison, the longest term yet imposed in the decades-long campaign of protests demanding the ouster from Germany of the free-fall, U.S. gravity bombs known as B61s stationed at the base. Dutch peace activist Susan van der Hijden from Amsterdam served 115 days together with Crane for similar convictions. The two spent most of their sentences at an “open prison” which permits daytime work release. The “free time” permitted by the “open” institution allowed Crane to speak to visitors and groups and even present a lecture at the local university.

Crane, 81, is a life-long peace activist who has endured lengthy prison sentences in the United States for “Plowshares” disarmament actions at state-side nuclear weapons sites, and is the first U.S. woman to be imprisoned in Germany in the “Büchel is Everywhere” campaign. She was convicted of several trespass charges after joining six “go-in” actions at Büchel. Once on the base, Crane and others warned military personnel that both the stationing and support of the U.S. hydrogen bombs there, and the ongoing threat to use them, are unlawful. Tornado fighter jet pilots of the German Air Force’s 33rd Tactical Air Wing at Büchel routinely train to drop the U.S. H-bombs on targets in Russia, most recently in operation “Steadfast Defender 24” — provocatively staged in the midst of the NATO-armed war in Ukraine, and a public nuclear attack threat just as terrifying as any issued from Moscow.

In a few go-in actions, Susan carried a banner charging, “Büchel Air Base is a Crime Scene.” According to legal scholars like the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms, the U.S. transfer of nuclear weapons to Germany violates the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) which forbids any “transfer to any recipient whatsoever [of] nuclear weapons.” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists says the U.S. H-bombs at Büchel are the 170-kiloton B61-3, and the 50-kiloton B61-4. The U.S. atomic bomb that incinerated Hiroshima in 1945 was a 15-kiloton device.

Crane wrote in a statement before entering prison last June, “I thought the German courts would listen to the reasons we went onto the base, and understand that our peaceful actions were justified as acts of crime prevention. But international law was not respected or enforced.”

Crane, who has two adult children and four grandchildren, has devoted her life in California to serving the poor and homeless as a member of the Redwood City Catholic Worker community. In a statement last March, Crane wrote, “I see people living in camps, living in cars, and I see working people who don’t have enough income for basic needs like rent, food, or medical care. Then, I think of the money wasted on war-making by the U.S. and NATO nations, and that 3% of the U.S. military budget alone could end starvation around the world.”

Susan’s personalism of individually — and against all odds — addressing overwhelming poverty on one hand, and confronting nuclear madness on the other, confounds the shock-immune public that perks up mostly at news of the latest catastrophe.

If instead of today’s atrocity, Susan’s example of both helping and warning, of “comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable” could go “viral,” our future would be brighter.

A fourth U.S. peace activist has been incarcerated in Germany over protests at the Büchel Air Base, after John LaForge, Dennis DuVall, and Susan Crane. Brian Terrell, a long-time Catholic Worker and human rights activist from Maloy, Iowa who works with the Nevada Desert Experience, served 15 days in the Wittlich Prison south of Cologne, from February 26 to March 12. Welcome back Brian!

January 31, 2025 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

New U.S. Hydrogen Bombs May Have Arrived at NATO Bases

JOHN LAFORGE, January 31, 2025

The head administrator of the U.S. nuclear weapons program, Jill Hruby, seems to have confirmed the transfer of new U.S. nuclear bombs to air bases in Europe as part of the quaint-sounding “nuclear sharing” program.

In remarks to the Hudson Institute January 16, Hruby said, “The new B61-12 gravity bombs are fully forward deployed, and we have increased NATO’s visibility to our nuclear capabilities,” etc.

Hruby’s announcement came just a week after her National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) revealed that production of the newest of the U.S.’s thermonuclear gravity bombs was complete. “In December 2024, the B61-12 life extension program reached its ‘last production unit’, finishing its production run.” the Eurasian Times reported January 18.

NNSA’s notification came only three days after Hans Kristensen, et al reported in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, “[I]t remained unclear whether any B61-12s had been delivered to European bases.” Hruby’s surprisingly rare public declaration prompted Kristensen, of the Federation of American Scientists, to tell Eurasian Times, “This almost sounds like official confirmation that deployment of the B61-12 to Europe has begun.”

That Hruby’s announcement was “almost like” official confirmation is about as much openness as the public ever gets regarding the highly secretive world of nuclear weapons. Only an eye-witness account of the arrival of a giant U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo plane at any of six NATO “nuclear sharing” bases — in Germany, Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands — could be a more certain affirmation.

In preparation for the delivery of the new air-drop thermonuclear gravity bombs, the foreign air force bases have all undertaken major, costly upgrades and expansions. The Bulletin reports, “these upgrades include the installation of double-fence security perimeters, modernizing the weapon storage and security systems and the alarm communication and display systems….” In addition, “A loading pad designed for U.S. C-17 aircraft that transports nuclear weapons is also being added at Kleine Brogel (Belgium), Büchel (Germany), Ghedi (Italy), and Volkel (the Netherlands).”

The approximately €1.1 billion ($1.14b) Büchel air base upgrade also makes way for the new F-35 Stealth jet fighters being purchased by Germany and to be flown by German air force pilots who will continue their role as planners, preparers, and prospective executioners of nuclear weapons attacks aimed at Russia.

News of the likely transfer of the new B61-12s came just as a group of nuclear weapons opponents were gathering only 15 miles from Germany’s Büchel airbase, south of Cologne. The anti-nuclear group Nonviolent Action for Abolition met to welcome out of prison the U.S. nuclear resister Susan Crane, who had served 230 days resulting from protests at the base, and to discuss the coming year’s schedule of events which are directed against “nuclear sharing” in general and Büchel’s collaboration in particular.

The NNSA’s January 18^th B61-12 “job done” announcement included the thrilling, career-saving and budget-retaining news that its 60-year-old assembly line “will transition to producing the B61-13 bomb.” The Bulletin noted more soberly that the B61-version 13 comes with a thermonuclear explosive force of 360 kilotons, “significantly higher than the B61-12’s yield of 50 kilotons.”

With 24 Hiroshima-sized firestorms in each “13,” you could say this jobs program has “unlucky” written all over it. Yet there is evidently no thought of arms control or belt tightening when it comes to mass production of this Ford Mustang of mass destruction. The War Zone reports this month that, “The B61-13 and future variants will require highly specialized engineering … the U.S. Air Force’s Nuclear Weapon Center’s recent contracting notice said.” (emphasis added).

Yes, contracting is the thing. And you thought it was about deterrence.

John LaForge is a Co-director of Nukewatch, a peace and environmental justice group in Wisconsin, and edits its newsletter.

–originally at Counterpunch.org

January 15, 2025 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

NATO’s Own Nuclear Threats Against Russia

By John LaForge

Western media reports every alarming statement from Russian President Putin and his commanders regarding their nuclear attack readiness. NATO’s nuclear weapons threats are never demonized in the same terms even though the alliance’s commanders’ readiness to launch their nuclear weapons is just as provocative, destabilizing, and potentially suicidal as Russia’s.

A case in point is NATO’s annual nuclear attack rehearsal known as “Steadfast Noon,” which ran from October 14 to 24 this year and involved thirteen NATO states, more than 60 warplanes from eight NATO air bases, and approximately 2,000 military personnel. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said in an October 11 announcement, “Nuclear deterrence is the cornerstone of allied security,” and “Steadfast Noon … sends a clear message to any adversary that NATO will protect and defend all allies.”

The complicated role-play of a NATO nuclear attack on Russia was coordinated to run simultaneously with the large-scale British-led maritime maneuver known as “Strike Warrior,” which was spearheaded by a British aircraft carrier “strike group” off the coast of Scotland. Thomas Newdick reported for The War Zone, on October 25, that “The combined drills sent a powerful message to Russia.”

Another powerful message — don’t call it a nuclear threat — was sent to Russia by Col. Daniel Bunch, Chief of Nuclear Operations for SHAPE, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, in Belgium. Col. Bunch said that coordinating the nuclear practice is “literally down to the minute of when we would put a weapon onto a target.” SHAPE said in the same announcement at the conclusion of the exercise that “Steadfast Noon offers a realistic training.” This is as bold and direct a threat to use nuclear weapons as anything President Putin has ever made.

Countries involved in the war games were the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Poland, Romania, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. The Royal Netherlands Air Force debuted newly purchased F-35A fighter jets. The jets have recently been “certified” to carry new B61-12 air-dropped H-bombs which are soon to be transferred from the U.S. to five NATO states, replacing older B61s.

January 15, 2025 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

European Human Rights Court Rejects Complaints by U.S. and German Nuclear Resisters

By John LaForge

The European Court of Human Rights has rejected the complaints of three nuclear weapons resisters who unsuccessfully appealed criminal trespass convictions in German courts. The cases stemmed from political trespass and/or property damage convictions that followed nonviolent “go-in” protests against the stationing and threatened use of U.S. nuclear bombs at Germany’s Büchel Air Force Base.

In decisions handed down October 21, the Strasbourg-based ECHR ruled that the defendants’ complaints failed to show “a violation of rights and freedoms set out in the Constitution” of the Court. The ECHR considers appeals from individuals, NGOs, or states within the 46-member Council of Europe, but only after applicants have exhausted all the paths of recourse in their own country.

The Court rejected complaints by Germans Marion Küpker of Hamburg, Stephanie Augustin of Dortmund, and yours truly John LaForge of Luck, Wisconsin. All three of us were convicted of trespass and/or damage to perimeter fencing at Büchel AFB, the German NATO base 80 miles southeast of Cologne. The base has been the object of decades of protests because of its maintenance and readiness to use the U.S. thermonuclear bombs (known as B61s) stationed there. German Tornado fighter jet pilots at the base plan, prepare, and train to use the U.S. Air Force H-bombs in attacks against Russia, most recently in the “Steadfast Noon” rehearsal that ended October 25. The transfer of the U.S. nuclear bombs to Germany and four other NATO states is part of a practice quaintly known as “nuclear sharing.”

Küpker, the nuclear weapons spokesperson with Fellowship of Reconciliation Germany, peace activist Augustin, and I appealed our convictions all the way to the Constitutional Court, Germany’s highest. This high court has routinely rejected similar appeals a total of 20 times in separate cases of nuclear weapons protests at Büchel. In January of 2023, I was the first U.S. citizen ordered to prison in Germany in the long-running campaign of civil resistance against the U.S. H-bombs kept at Büchel and was incarcerated for 50 days.

Two other U.S. citizens have been jailed after Büchel trespass convictions. Dennis DuVall with Veterans for Peace, formerly of Prescott, Arizona, now living in Germany, served 60 days in prison in 2023. Susan Crane of Redwood City, California, is currently serving a 229-day prison sentence in JVA Koblenz, Germany, the longest sentence ever imposed in the 28-year-long campaign.

I argued in my complaint to the ECHR that its mandatory requirements were violated by German courts when they prevented me from presenting a complete defense. The complaint argued that the trial courts erred by refusing to consider expert witness testimony, which would have corroborated my defense of “crime prevention.” I had offered the testimony of the eminent international law scholar Francis A. Boyle of the University of Illinois who has said that international treaties prohibit any and all planning or preparation for nuclear weapons attacks, and also forbid nuclear weapons “sharing” by any state which is party to the 1970 Nonproliferation Treaty. But the ECHR ruled that Germany’s trial court’s decisions were not “unfair” and did “not appear arbitrary or manifestly unreasonable.” The ruling is final and is not subject to appeal.

We gave the human rights court a chance to examine the legality of transferring U.S. nuclear weapons to Germany. At a time when threats and risks of nuclear attacks over Ukraine are reported almost daily, the ECHR ducked the opportunity to shame the “sharing” of U.S. nuclear weapons and to condemn the U.S./German violation of the Nonproliferation Treaty.

Three other nuclear resisters have filed similar complaints with the ECHR including Germans Ariane Dettloff of Cologne and Johanna Adickes of Emden. Susan Crane of California had her application dismissed on a technicality.

New U.S. Hydrogen Bombs May Have Arrived at NATO Bases

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