Stephen Altschuler

thoughts on environment, politics, health, life issues

Nuclear War

Ukraine vs. Russia: New Rules

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David Milliband, a former UK foreign secretary, said on Fareed Zakaria’s show Sunday that the world needs established rules to guarantee peace and harmony–rules that Russia is obviously not following under its strongman president Vladimir Putin. And because of this, the present conflict has a much broader scope. And that is an Armageddon-like struggle between the West and Putin.

But the first immediate factor in this conflict is what is happening now in Ukraine to the infrastructure of the country and to the terror being endured by its courageous people. Because of longstanding and irrational resentments of Russia towards Ukraine, there cannot and will not be a diplomatic solution unless Ukraine defeats Russia on the battlefield. In light of that, the West must continue to arm Ukraine with state of the art weapons, defensive and offensive, administrative, communicative, and digital.

Amazingly, Ukraine is now winning this war, and consequently, despite sanctions, Putin is continuing to pour in troops and heavy weaponry into Eastern parts of Ukraine with the goal of subduing the population and taking control of that part of the country. President Zelensky, forever a hero of democracy to his country and to the West, has offered to negotiate and even give certain security assurances to Russia in return for peace. Putin will have none of it. He is acting more and more like a 19th century Czar or a 20th century Stalin, the difference being he has direct access to chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons and has threatened to use them.

Which brings me to my next recommendations concerning the call for new rules for a peaceful world order. Putin only seems to respond to power and force, just as Krushchev responded only to Kennedy’s threat of retaliation if Russian ICBMs were not withdrawn from Cuba in 1962. Those of us who were around then, myself included, thought nuclear war was immanent. But Krushchev backed down and pulled the missiles out in exchange for the U.S. pulling out some missiles in Turkey, close to Russia’s border.

Now, Joe Biden, possibly unilaterally, must say to Putin, if you use weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine, the U.S. will respond likewise against Russia. Ideally NATO would be part of this deal, but if not, the U.S. should go it alone. We have the fire power to do so. At the same time we should offer Russia the kind of security reassurances they are looking for, such as neither Ukraine nor other countries that border Russia would be permitted entry into NATO–the EU, yes, but not NATO. We could also include an initiative for a treaty to further reduce nuclear weapons. This would be accomplished through direct high level talks between the U.S. and Russia. And if Russia pulled its troops out of Ukraine and did not attack any other neighboring countries, all sanctions against Russia would be ended, and normal trade, including gas and oil to Europe, would be resumed.

I’ll leave the rest of the negotiation details to the experts, as I am not one of those. I am just a citizen of a still democratic country who has ideas that could lead to a diminution of human suffering and a return to peace and harmony in this old world, tired of conflict and war and war crimes. Our Declaration of Independence holds “these truths to be self-evident, that all men (people) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…” I suggest our Declaration apply to any citizen of Earth, and the above rules presented to Putin could apply wherever weapons of mass destruction are used, or being planned to use, to subdue, subjugate, or conquer innocent citizens and countries.

To borrow Emerson’s words, I would call it a Doctrine of Compensation, or if that wasn’t clear enough, a Doctrine of Retaliation, or using history as a touchstone, the Kennedy Doctrine. Its purpose, of course, is preventative, causing dictators and demagogues to blink and pull back.

It’s Time to Stop Putin, Cold!

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I’ve just seen the bodies of four members of a Ukrainian family, a father, a mother, and their two children, who were bombed into eternity as they attempted to flee their city which is under siege by Russian forces directed by their president Vladimir Putin. This was a deliberate attack by barbarians who target civilians indiscriminately and without cause as they were evacuating. This entire operation against a country that did not provoke such an invasion is an abomination against all decent, peace-loving people in this fragile world of ours. Barbarians in earlier centuries waged such war, ravaging and razing cities while murdering people just to acquire more territory and wealth and, yes, slaves. I thought we were done with such warring nations. But we obviously are not.

Putin must be stopped and stopped cold as he attempts to destroy a country, its people, and its culture. Ukraine’s President Zalensky calls on the West to establish a no-fly zone to challenge Russian war planes from bombing civilian targets. That is a good first step. But it is not enough. This is the time to directly challenge Putin and put an end to his warmongering. We failed to do this with Hitler, and we all know what followed: one of the worst genocides in history and a World War that destroyed the lives and cities of millions. I know the threat and even the possiblity of nuclear confrontation is real, making this different from war in the 1940s.

But, I’m sorry to say, it must be done. Nuclear bombs and missiles have been a deterence to world war up to now, and, I believe, will continue to deter competing nations from using them. Putin is mentally off the rails, but I don’t think he is that insane. His talk of putting his nuclear forces on high alert is a strategic ruse, and only that. I wrote a post a short while ago advocating for a Democracy Doctrine, and this seems to be an ideal time to put that doctrine into action. Why not! Russia is in the process of decimating the Democratic country of Ukraine. To see innocents being slaughtered is intolerable.

The West has the will and the way and the means to stop it, and stop it cold. Yes, it will widen the war, not into a world war, I believe, for there is not enough support from other countries to come to Russia’s aid as allies. Tactical nuclear weapons may or may not be employed by Russia in an act of desperation. And that will be met with a reciprocal response from the West. But the advantages of such a confrontation far outweigh the dangers. For if we do not stop Putin now, we will have a much harder time stopping him in the future when he regains economic stability and gathers military allies.

I am just one small voice, without expert credentials or experience in foreign affairs or a university professorship or chairmanship of an influential government committee. But I know, as I’m sure you do, wanton barbarianism when I see it. And I know, though I am a pacifist by nature, that the only thing that will stop such atrocities is brute force and the courage of a Lincoln, or an FDR, or a Churchill, and, yes, a Zelensky, a fellow Jewish landsman of the country of my grandparents.

Long live Ukraine! Long live Democracy! Let’s do what needs to be done to rid the world of another Attila the Hun, of another Osama bin Laden, of another Stalin, of another Hitler. It’s as if we’re back in the year 800 when the invading hordes from the north ravaged a peaceful world. What now do we do? What now do we do? Sanctions alone? Or damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

I say, Onward! Stop this son of a bitch!

Who Are We? What is this society and what can it be?

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Hopefully, we are…

  • a society that believes that each human being who lives here deserves the chance to be healthy, happy, and educated.
  • a society of democratic values, such as the right to vote and have that vote counted as was voted.
  • a society where individuals can practice whatever religion they choose, or no religion at all, as long as that religion does not preach harm to its practitioners or to others in our society or the world at large.
  • a society of laws–laws that keep us healthy, laws that protect us against crime, laws that protect our environment, laws that keep us safe as determined by our representatives in local, state, and federal government, laws that may at times be anathema to individual members of society but that have been enacted by our legislatures and approved by our courts (for example, laws that mandate masks, vaccines, stoplights and stop signs, seatbelts, drinking and driving, helmets and motorcycling, vehicle licenses and registration and smog control, noise control, sanitation regulations, and open admission to public facilities.
  • a society that respects differences and honors diversity.
  • a society that attends to the wellbeing of our fellow human beings no matter their color or economic status or immigration status.
  • a society that is generous in kind and spirit, willing to help those less fortunate.
  • a society that treats all sentient beings with compassion and respect, including even the seemingly lowest in class and status such as prisoners, the disabled, the poor and destitute, the homeless, the sick, the fragile elderly, the hungry.
  • a society that follows the Golden Rule which is Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
  • a society where individuals take responsibility for their actions, and consider the effects of their actions on the lives of others, whether people, other animals, or plants.
  • a society that prides itself on its livability, its clean water and air, its sustainable practices, its wise and sensible land use, its clean and alternative energy resources, its happy and content populace.
  • a society of good roads, safe bridges, universal broadband, universal child care and early childhood education, free education for those unable to afford it, trade schools for those who desire it, and quality health care for all.
  • a society that has the courage to take an honest look at its history, face up to its failures and atone for them, smiles at its successes and honors them, and avoids changing history to suit its collective ego.
  • a society that trusts legitimate science and the scientific method it employs.
  • a society that cooperates with other countries, finding commonalities and interests it can agree upon, resulting in positive results for the planet.
  • a society that chooses peace over war, honing the art of negotiation and diplomacy, resorting to war only when it or a treaty ally is directly attacked.
  • a society that works, along with other countries, to disarm, especially nuclear weapons that can easily destroy the planet if unleashed.
  • a society that sets a good example of democracy for the rest of the world to emulate–an example that includes one person/one vote, counted fairly and squarely, that includes a presidential election decided by popular vote and not an antiquated system that creates doubt in the outcome, that includes a true representative democracy that deletes schemes like gerrymandering and filibustering, and a fringe third party that can sway an election unfairly.
  • a society where all eligible voters can and do vote.
  • a society that can provide decent jobs and a living wage for its workers.
  • a society that honors women with equal pay for equal work, that acknowledges the freedom of choosing how to manage their own bodies in regards to reproduction, health care, and birth control, and that has sufficient child care resources to allow them to pursue whatever career or job they wish.
  • a society that understands that one can be pro-life and pro-choice at the same time, and end this toxic polarity between the two factions.
  • a society that honors multi-culturalism.
  • a society that rejects false conspiracy theories, such as QAnon, white supremacy, the Big Lie (s) of Donald Trump and his surrogates, the spittle of Tucker Carlson and Fox “News”, and vaccine misinformation.
  • a society where civil discourse is the rule not the exception.

Can we be such a society?

A Trump Coup Attempt?

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Donald Trump seems to have a form of coup on his mind. A coup, though, often involves a military takeover. In the post Cold War world, such coups have occurred in Asia, Africa, and South and Central America. According to Wikipedia, about half have been successful and half unsuccessful. None have occurred in Europe or North America. The U.S. has never experienced a coup.

Yet a coup is mostly plotted by a group that is out of power against at the group that is in power. Trump’s coup would be a first: a coup of a person currently in power against a person duly elected but not yet in power. Trump has tried every legal means even, up to the Supreme Court, to reverse the outcome of the election, without success. His next scheme is to convince Mike Pence to vote against confirmation of the Electoral College tally in Congress and reverse the outcome of the election. But Pence and his advisers have advised Trump that this is [Read more…] about A Trump Coup Attempt?

An Appeal

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Our country is under attack, not as much from external enemies, but from within. Donald Trump, with the help of Republican conspirators in Congress, is consciously and willfully undermining and shredding our democracy. Unbelieveable as this may seem, he might just succeed. By declaring “the system is rigged,” he is creating an atmosphere of distrust where many people do not believe anything that his supposed opponents profess. This means that if Robert Mueller finds compelling evidence that Trump has colluded with the Russians or has obstructed justice, Trump’s minions will ignore the evidence and go on supporting their “Supreme Leader” as they would in North Korea or Iran or Russia.

Call this what you will. I call it autocracy, or worse, a Fascist dictatorship. Our Founding Fathers worried about such a development, building into the Constitution a system of checks and balances to protect us against it. But those wise men didn’t figure on a megalomaniac like Donald Trump to assume the Presidency of our country.

Of course our first and foremost worry is a nuclear war–a very real possibility given two impulsive and power hungry men are involved. Recent tensions are rising. Wild threats are increasing. The political air is bristling with electric intensity. Neither of these men has a moral compass to lead them. Neither of them is completely rational. Both are armed to the teeth and unhinged. Both are under tremendous pressure to appear strong and powerful to their base as well their military establishments. We are as close to nuclear war as we were when Kennedy faced down Khrushchev during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. And we have no Madam Secretary [Read more…] about An Appeal