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July 11, 2018 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

German Campaigners See Progress in Confronting US Nuclear Weapons

Outside the main gate into Büchel Air Base, peace camp organizer Marion Küpker (center) gave “newcomers” an introduction to the nuclear weapons site and the 20-year history of protest there.
Summer Quarterly 2018

On March 26, nuclear abolitionists in Germany launched 20 weeks of nonviolent resistance at Büchel Air Base, continuing until August 9, 2018. The base controls 20 US nuclear bombs, a remnant of the US Cold War nuclear arsenal that used to number in the thousands.

The March start date is the anniversary of the bi-partisan approval in 2010 by the German Bundestag or Parliament to urge the government to permanently remove the remaining US bombs.

In spite of near unanimous German public opinion that the bombs should be permanently withdrawn (a 2016 poll showed that 89% of the German public is against the US nukes), German pilots are both trained and obligated to take off with these bombs in their Tornado jet fighter-bombers and—if the orders come from a US president through NATO—to use them on their targets.

Germany’s peace movement is the only one in Europe that has built a nation-wide campaign coalition of 50 groups and organizations—called “Büchel is everywhere—nuclear weapons-free now!”—focused on nuclear abolition. Its goals are the removal of the US bombs, cancellation of the B61-12 replacement bomb, and seeing the country ratify the new International Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. In the last few years, because of increased military hostility toward Russia, and NATO discussion of “usable low-yield” nuclear weapons, the Campaign Council has endorsed nonviolent civil resistance at the Büchel Air Base to bring more attention to the issue. Besides lobby work to halt the B61 replacement, the council increases awareness and political pressure using nonviolent direct action.

Last February 3rd, German Social Democratic Party members of the European Parliament met in a regional conference and unanimously approved a motion to withdraw all remaining US nuclear weapons from Germany. At the SDP’s regional association convention in Rhineland, EP member Norbert Neuser issued a letter to members that said in part, “I know that this initiative does not necessarily meet the goodwill of the party in Berlin, but I agree absolutely with the compliant by [former SDP leader] Martin Schulz who made in the [2017] election campaign a clear call for the abolition of the last nuclear weapons from Germany.”

B61-12 Cancellation Bills to Support
Warheads discussing bombs. A congressional hearing room with a mock-up of a new B61-12 hydrogen bomb being developed as a $10-$13 billion make-work program to needlessly replace earlier models.

Parallel House and Senate bills that would prohibit spending on new and so-called “smaller” nuclear weapons including the B61-12 are under consideration in congress. The bills are H.R. 2668, the “Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures Act” introduced by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon, and S. 1235 its tandem measure in the senate. While far from the global rejection of nuclear weapons embodied in the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the bills would halt spending for the new B61 gravity bomb; adding nuclear weapons carrying capability to the R-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet; any new air-launched Cruise missile (known as Long Range Stand-Off); and any replacement of today’s 450 intercontinental ballistic missiles like the proposed $100 billion “Ground Based Strategic Deterrent.” Call your Congressional Rep’s and Senators and urge their support and co-sponsorship of these bills.

Germany’s Bank to Divest from Nuclear Weapons

Expanding its investment restrictions, Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest, has agreed to exclude nuclear weapons producers. A statement on its website announced: “The policy published today makes clear that Deutsche Bank avoids entering into, or continuing, any kind of business relationship with entities with clear, direct links to the following types of controversial weapons business: Cluster Munitions; Anti-Personnel Mines; Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear Weapons; Controversial Conventional Weapons.” Maaike Beenens, with the group Don’t Bank on the Bomb, welcomes the new policy by Deutsche Bank, saying “With the new policy, Deutsche Bank clearly recognizes that investments in any type of nuclear weapons companies are unacceptable. With growing threats to use nuclear weapons, this announcement is a timely reminder of the choice we all face—nuclear weapons or our collective future. We welcome this decision, and hope to see divestment by Deutsche Bank from all nuclear weapon producers.” The move follows intense pressure and negotiations by campaigners from Don’t Bank on the Bomb and ICAN Germany, who will be watching closely to see that the bank follows through with divestment.

Second US Delegation to Join International Peace Actions at Germany’s Deployment Site for US H-Bombs

The German-wide campaign “Büchel  is Everywhere: Nuclear Weapons-free Now!” demands: 1) that the remaining 20 US H-bombs at Büchel be sent home permanently; 2) that they not be replaced with new bombs as the US intends, and 3) that Germany ratify the new nuclear weapons ban treaty. A delegation from the United States coordinated by Nukewatch will join “International Week” at the Büchel peace camp, July 10-18. For  info. visit the websites buechel-atombombenfrei.de, where you can endorse the campaign by signing a “Declaration of Solidarity.”

Filed Under: B61 Bombs in Europe, Direct Action, Newsletter Archives, Quarterly Newsletter, US Bombs Out of Germany

June 27, 2018 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

US Peace Delegation to Join International Call for Ouster of US Nuclear Weapons from Germany

For the second time in two years, a delegation of US peace activists* will participate in protests at the Büchel Air Base in the center-west part of Germany, July 10 to 18, 2018 demanding the withdrawal of the 20 remaining US H-bombs still deployed there.

The eight US activists — from Wisconsin, California, New York, Missouri, Georgia and Arizona — will join the coalition of 50 German peace groups and organizations converging on the air base. The delegation has been organized by Nukewatch, the peace and environmental group based in Luck, Wisc., in conjunction with a 50-group coalition of German peace organizations called “Büchel is Everywhere: Nuclear Weapons-Free Now!”

The target of the protests is the controversial policy of placing nuclear weapons in other countries, and expensive US plans to replace the bombs instead of withdrawing them. The US is the only country in the world that arms other countries with its nuclear weapons. Under a program called “nuclear sharing,” Germany, Italy, Belgium, Turkey, and The Netherlands still deploy a total of 150 Cold War-era US nuclear weapons.** Critics point out that all five countries are parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which explicitly prohibits nuclear weapons from being transferred to or accepted from other countries.

This past March 26, activists in Germany launched a 20-week-long series of nonviolent protests — “Twenty Weeks for Twenty Bombs” — to rid Germany of the remaining 20 US Air Force nuclear gravity bombs known as B61s. The protests continue through August 9, the anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan in 1945. The US peace delegation will join International Week, July 10 to 18, along with activists from Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Germany and elsewhere. (Last year’s US delegation joined other nuclear weapons opponents from as far away as China, Mexico, and Russia.)

“The world wants nuclear weapons abolished,” said US delegate Bonnie Urfer, a long-time peace activist and former staffer with the nuclear watchdog group Nukewatch, in Luck, Wisconsin. “To waste billions of dollars replacing them with new ones is outrageous considering how many millions are in poverty or in need disaster relief, emergency shelter, and safe drinking water,” Urfer said. Urfer has spent 6-and-1/2 years incarcerated over the last 30 years for misdemeanor-level protests she calls “civil resistance” against war, nuclear weapons and nuclear power.

The US delegation and the German public object to US plans to produce 480 new hydrogen bombs — dubbed the “B61-12” — to replace the 150 now deployed across Europe (including the 20 at Büchel Air Base).

“Our united resistance will stop the new, illegal nuclear bombs nobody needs,” said Marion Küpker, a disarmament campaigner with Büchel Is Everywhere. “We want Germany to be nuclear weapons-free,” she said.

A huge majority of the German public supports the UN treaty ban and the removal of the US nuclear weapons from its territory. According to a March 2016 poll, a whopping 93% want nuclear weapons banned; 85% agreed that the US weapons should be permanently ousted from Germany; and 88% said they oppose US plans to replace the current H-bombs with the new “B61-12.”

*The delegation includes: CEECEE ANDERSON from Atlanta Georgia; SUSAN CRANE, of Redwood City, California; ANTHONY DONOVAN of New York, NY; DENNIS DUVAL from Prescott, Arizona; ANN SUELLENTROP of Kansas City, Missouri; VICTOR WHITE, of Oceanside, California; and BONNIE URFER and JOHN LaFORGE, both with Nukewatch, in Luck, Wisconsin.

**United States nuclear forces, 2018, tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00963402.2018.1438219

Filed Under: Direct Action, US Bombs Out of Germany

April 2, 2018 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

German Foreign Minister Calls for Ouster of US Nukes from Germany

By John LaForge
Spring Quarterly 2018

In a diplomatic break with its US and NATO colleagues, Germany’s Foreign Office on Feb. 4th issued a scathing critique of the Trump Administration’s Nuclear Posture Review one day after it was released. Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said in a prepared statement: “The US Administration’s decision to develop new tactical nuclear weapons shows that the spiral of a new nuclear arms race has already been set in motion. As at the time of the Cold War, we in Europe are particularly at risk. For this reason, we in Europe in particular must launch new arms control and disarmament initiatives. …

“The mutually accelerating development of new nuclear weapons must be viewed with concern, as it sends the wrong message…. However, the solution must not be to simply join the nuclear arms race.

“The current arms control treaties must therefore be upheld as a matter of urgency. We need new disarmament initiatives rather than new arms systems.”

Last Aug. 22, Martin Schulz, during his unsuccessful campaign as the Social Democrat candidate for Chancellor, called for the ouster of US weapons. Worldwide media reported that, “German rival of Chancellor [Angela] Merkel vows to remove US nuclear weapons from the country.” The Los Angeles Times noted that Schulz said at a campaign rally, “As chancellor, I’d push for the ejection of nuclear weapons stored in Germany.”

Then Aug. 29, Foreign Minister Gabriel, shocked a Washington, DC press conference with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by endorsing Schulz’s call for ridding Germany of US bombs. Gabriel bluntly said, “I agree with Mr. Schulz’s point that we need to get rid of the nuclear weapons that are in our country.”

Filed Under: B61 Bombs in Europe, Newsletter Archives, Nuclear Weapons, Quarterly Newsletter, US Bombs Out of Germany

April 2, 2018 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

2nd US Delegation to Join Peace Actions at German Air Base that Hosts US H-Bombs

Nuclear abolitionists in Germany will again sponsor 20 weeks of nonviolent resistance at Büchel Air Base, from March 26 to August 9, 2018. The campaign demands that the 20 US B61 H-bombs at Büchel be sent home permanently—not replaced with new bombs as the US intends—and that Germany ratify the new nuclear weapons ban treaty. A delegation from the US coordinated by Nukewatch will join the Büchel peace camp July 10-18. For more info., visit the websites buechel-atombombenfrei.de and atomwaffenfrei.de (click on International & English), where you can consider joining the delegation, and endorse the campaign by signing the Declaration of Solidarity.

To support a scholarship fund for the delegation, please send a donation to Nukewatch today—online or by mailing to Nukewatch, 740A Round Lake Road, Luck, Wisconsin 54853.

Filed Under: Direct Action, Newsletter Archives, Nuclear Weapons, Quarterly Newsletter, US Bombs Out of Germany

December 28, 2017 by Nukewatch Leave a Comment

Nuclear Shorts

US EPA Says Higher Radiation Levels Pose ‘No Harmful Health Effect’

In the event of a radioactive dirty bomb or a reactor disaster in the United States, emergency responders can safely tolerate radiation levels equivalent to thousands of chest X-rays, the Environmental Protection Agency said in new guidelines that ease off on established safety levels. The EPA’s determination sets a level 10 times the drinking water standard for radiation recommended under President Barack Obama. It could lead to the Trump Administration weakening radiation exposure rules, say watchdog groups critical of the move. —Ari Natter, Bloomberg.com, Oct. 16, 2017

Republican Chair of US Radiation Watchdog Agency Secretly Urges its Abolition

The chairman of a panel charged with protecting workers at nuclear weapons facilities as well as nearby communities has told the White House he favors downsizing or abolishing the group, despite recent radiation and workplace safety problems that injured or endangered people at the sites it helps oversee.

Republican appointee Sean Sullivan, a former Navy submarine officer, told the director of the Office of Management and Budget in a private letter that closing or shrinking the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board he chairs is consistent with President Trump’s ambition to cut the size of the federal workforce, according to a copy of Sullivan’s letter. It was written in June and obtained recently by the Center for Public Integrity. —Patrick Malonee and R. Jeffrey Smithe, Center for Public Integrity, Oct. 19, 2017

German Greens Want Last US Nuclear Weapons Ousted

The German Green Party wants the next coalition government to push for the removal of all nuclear warheads stationed in Germany, a document seen Nov. 15 by Reuters showed. The discussion paper on military and foreign policy did not mention the United States, which is believed to have 20 nuclear warheads at a military base in Büchel in western Germany.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, of the conservative Christian Democratic Union, is trying to secure a fourth term through an unlikely coalition with the ecologist Greens and pro-business Free Democrats after her conservative bloc lost support to the far-right in an election in September. During the campaign last summer both the Social Democrat candidate for Chancellor, Martin Schulz and Germany’s current Foreign Minister, Sigmar Gabriel, called for the removal of US nuclear weapons.
“Within NATO, we want to ensure that the remaining nuclear weapons in Germany are withdrawn and we want to suspend the modernization programme,” read a section in the document stating the Green Party’s position. —Reuters, Nov. 15, 2017

Filed Under: B61 Bombs in Europe, Newsletter Archives, Nuclear Weapons, Quarterly Newsletter, Radiation Exposure, US Bombs Out of Germany

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