Dear Friends,
LISTEN TO THIS WEEK’S PROGRAM. Here’s our line up, with Charles Goldman co-hosting:
(02:18) The conflict in Ukraine increases the risk of nuclear war, with Jeffrey Weiss;
(30:51) We may be on the verge of another banking crisis;
(41:34) With Alaska oil-drilling project, Biden chooses politics over science;
(48:12) Trump’s indictment could shake up Republican primary;
(53:57) Doing the math on cuts to food assistance, with Kathy Byrnes.
Every day for the past year, we read, watch, or listen to stories about the war in Ukraine. That’s as it should be. Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked assault on a neighboring sovereign nation is wrong by any assessment.
The 1986 Great Peace March, as 600 marchers cross the Missouri River into Iowa. That’s me in green — not the clown, the other green shirt.
But the sub-topic that gets comparatively little attention is whether this war increases the risk of a nuclear exchange. My contention is it absolutely does, and we oughta be clamoring loudly for diplomacy and nuclear disarmament.
But other than a few persistent, isolated voices for peace, we mostly hear crickets. Thus the question I ask in this week’s program and have asked before: Where is the peace movement?
Forty years ago, the anti-nuclear-weapons movement was broad and vibrant. It embraced every conceivable strategy — from hammering missile silos to volunteering in campaigns of “pro-peace” candidates.
That movement accomplished a lot: The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, START, The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, US-Soviet citizen-diplomacy, and much more. There are still 13,080 nuclear weapons in the world, but that’s down from over 60,000 in 1986.
Change happened, as it always does, because hundreds of thousands of people marched, spoke out, got arrested, campaigned, and made more noise than the lumbering colossus of the federal government could ignore.
Beyond its impact on nuclear disarmament, the peace movement of the 1980s inspired many us to commit our lives to public service. My entry point in 1986 was coordinating the Iowa leg of the Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament. I’m still marching.
Dennis Kucinich
Nuclear war is part of the mix in our discussion about Ukraine this week. You can listen to that segment of the conversation from the 12:30-minute mark through the 18:30-minute mark. Jeffrey, Charles, and I offer differing perspectives. I’d appreciate your feedback.
When it comes to peace and global security, one leader I’ve always respected is former US Congressman Dennis Kucinich.
In a newsletter regarding the war in Ukraine, Kucinich writes, “Our government’s disastrous trade policies, dangerous rhetoric and military overreach have undermined America’s position in the world, driving China and Russia into a powerful alliance. Our leaders’ ideological unwillingness to engage in diplomatic resolution of conflict has brought us closer than ever to nuclear war.”
Kucinich goes on to assert that US involvement in Ukraine is about controlling the energy market and a build-up toward war with China. He writes, “Just as we ignored diplomacy in Iraq, America has refused diplomacy that could have prevented bloodshed in Ukraine, choosing instead to pursue a geopolitical fantasy of deposing Putin.”
I hope Kucinich is wrong, though I can’t think of an instance over the twenty years I’ve known him when he hasn’t been right. It’s clear that the drums of war are beating louder and more ominously than they have for some time. In response, we need to raise our voices. I assure you from my past work that it does make a difference.
Thanks for reading, listening, and taking action. Please consider donating to our work.
Ed Fallon
*******
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THIS WEEK’S PODCAST
You can also hear the Fallon Forum on these affiliates:
– KHOI 89.1 FM (Ames, Iowa)
– KICI.LP 105.3 FM (Iowa City, Iowa)
– WHIV 102.3 FM (New Orleans, Louisiana)
– KPIP-LP, 94.7 FM (Fayette, Missouri)
– KCEI 90.1 FM (Taos, New Mexico)
– KRFP 90.3 FM (Moscow, Idaho)
– WGRN 94.1 FM (Columbus, Ohio)
– KKFI 90.1 FM (Kansas City, Missouri)
Please support the local businesses and non-profits who make this program possible. Click on their logos on the Fallon Forum website and in our weekly email, and visit Dr. Drake Family Psychiatry, Story County Veterinary Clinic, Bold Iowa, and Birds & Bees Urban Farm. Thanks to Des Moines Irish Session for providing our bumper music, and thank you for supporting the civil alternative to the shock jocks!
Ed Fallon