[Peace-discuss] More Mush From the Wimp

[David Green]

The nuclear test ban treaty was (is) seen as one of the greatest achievements of Kennedy, along with avoidance of nuclear war during the Cuban missle crisis. While I'm glad that we no longer blow up nukes above ground, and I'm also glad that I didn't have to find out if my classroom desk would protect me from nuclear war, these efforts must of course be understood in the context of global American aggression during that era and since, including against Cuba, as part of the Camelot myth.

Obama's gambit regarding nukes should be viewed with similar cynicism, in my opinion, as public relations and image-making. The NYT piece that traced his views on nuclear disarmament back to his college days was nauseating. There were plenty of actual ongoing atrocities to be opposed to in the early 1980s--in southern Africa, for example, as well as Central America--that were the equivalent of dropping several nuclear weapons.

DG



________________________________
From: C. G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu>
To: Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
Sent: Tuesday, July 7, 2009 9:59:14 AM
Subject: [Peace-discuss] More Mush From the Wimp

[The subject line is the headline that a friend of mine, working nights at the Boston Globe during the Carter administration, attached to a presidential speech  with the intention of removing it before the paper went to press; unfortunately, he forgot, and the Globe accidentally told the truth.  Here, now, to reverse the maxim -- the first time as farce, the second time as tragedy:]


"The future does not belong to those who gather armies on a field of battle or bury missiles in the ground."

Obama 4:15 AM EST July 7, 2009

http://www.time.com/time/quotes/0,26174,1908976,00.html?xid=rss-quotes


"Suspected US missiles, Pakistan jets hit militants'

7:45 AM EST July 7, 2009

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090707/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_877


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