Archives: Quotes
“Bombs and bullets cannot defend against Covid-19 or its future variants,” —President Joe Biden

Aljazeera – At UN, Biden urges ‘global action on shared challenges
“Iran’s march towards a nuclear weapon is not only an Israeli problem, it’s a problem for the entire world. A nuclear Iran will lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.”

“The IAEA’s mission is ‘to promote the safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear technologies,’ in other words, to sustain the illusion — despite Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima and concern about Iran — that nuclear power can be safe and secure and its waste never at risk of being processed for nuclear weapons.”
“We are just seeing the early signs of a nuclear race…Much more awaits us.”
Tong Zhao, a researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace based in Beijing – Quote from article A New Tunnel Is Spotted At A Chinese Nuclear Test Site, Axios, July 30, 2021
“This is a social justice issue. We want acknowledgment that the federal government did this without our consent then forgot about us and left us to fend for ourselves.”

Tina Cordova, a cancer survivor and former Tularosa resident – Quote from the article Latinos still coping with the fallout of 1st nuclear explosion, Axios, July 15, 2021
“The Pentagon is hell-bent on securing funds to develop a brand new suite of nuclear weapons to replace its Cold War-era arsenal, with the federal government projecting expenditures of $190 billion through 2030 to modernize powerful missiles, warheads, bombers, and submarines originally conceived at the height of a nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union.”
Sara Sirota – from the article Nuclear Weapons Skeptics Face Turbulent Path to Rein in the Pentagon, The Intercept, July 1, 2021
“A nuclear war between any nuclear states, using much less than one percent of the current nuclear arsenal, would produce climate change unprecedented in human history. A small nuclear war could reduce food production by 10 to 40 percent for a decade, with massive increases in ultraviolet radiation (which causes deadly skin cancers).”
— Alan Robock, professor of climate science in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University
From the article: Professor: Nuclear war might cause crop failures, famine; ways to prevent oakridger.com
“Regretfully, being rational does not work…Wise women and men have rationally explained, researched, and estimated what will happen to the world in nuclear war. They’ve talked and lobbied for decades. But the boys with nuclear toys continue their march toward oblivion.”
Plain Talk: On this Memorial Day, consider getting rid of instruments of death – Buzz Davis
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“One cannot level one’s moral lance at every evil in the universe. There are just too many of them. But you can do something and the difference between doing something and doing nothing is everything.”
Daniel Berrigan – from the book “Daniel Berrigan: Essential Writings.
“It’s long past time to demystify the nuclear enterprise, to strip away the fear and trembling, and ask how many weapons are needed to do what.”
We Don’t Need a Better Nuclear Arsenal to Take on China – Fred Kaplan, SLATE News
“The point of nonviolence is to build a strong new floor beneath which we can no longer sink; a platform which stands a few feet above napalm, torture, exploitation, poison gas, A and H bombs, [and] the works. Give a man a decent place to stand.” Joan Baez
“[Nuclear Weapons] aren’t just wildly expensive. They’re dangerous. Because they are designed to fire while enemy missiles are still in the air, former Defense Secretary William Perry warns that they “could trigger an accidental nuclear war.”
Mr. Perry has proposed phasing out America’s land-based nuclear weapons and relying on a safer air- and sea-based deterrent. If Mr. Biden followed Mr. Perry’s advice, he could save more than enough money to prepare vaccines for the 50 to 100 viruses most likely to cause the next pandemic.” – Let’s Cut Our Ridiculous Defense Budget
“President Ronald Reagan believed that nuclear weapons are immoral, and so he sought their complete elimination, and I agreed – and still do with deep conviction. In the end, this is a matter of profound morality.” – George P. Schultz, US Secretary of State 1982-89
“The reality is that United States can deter and, if necessary, respond to nuclear attack without the 400 nuclear warheads atop its 400 ICBMs. Today, the U.S. strategic nuclear arsenal is at least one-third larger than necessary to deter a nuclear attack.”

“According to a 2020 poll by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, 66 percent of Americans want a world without nuclear weapons…
The present moment offers the promise of unprecedented change in global nuclear politics.”
— How to Support the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Without Signing It
Jayita Sarkar – The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which outlaws nuclear weapons, entered force just after Biden’s inauguration. Although the Biden administration is highly unlikely to adhere to it directly, can it take smaller steps in line with the TPNW’s goals?
“I am pleased to recognize today’s entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the first multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty in more than two decades. The treaty is an important step towards the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons and a strong demonstration of support for multilateral approaches to nuclear disarmament,”
January 22nd 2021 – UNITED NATIONS — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday welcomed the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty.
“If the military gets an illegitimate order from the president of the United States, the military can and should refuse that order in a situation where it is widely seen that the president is unfit and incapable of making a rational decision,”
— Pelosi’s talk of limits on Trump nuke power raises old worry Tom Z. Collina, co-author with former Defense Secretary William J. Perry of a book, “The Button,” about nuclear dangers and presidential command authority.
“…We’re in a storytelling crisis, and the kind of storytelling that we are talking about right now needs to be revved up to the nth degree. While we—those of us in the journalism and nuclear spaces—understand the gravity of where we are, and how dangerous our current global stockpile is, and that we have fewer means of communication for de-escalation than ever, the rest of the world isn’t getting it. And as the pandemic worsens, this issue is getting less and less attention”
— “We’re in a storytelling crisis”: Advice for writing on nuclear issues, from the author of “Fallout”

“Analytical attempts to belittle or undermine the significance of this treaty may appease the minority of countries that cling to these weapons of mass destruction for now, but make no mistake — the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is a game-changer. And it is not going anywhere.”
— ALICIA SANDERS-ZAKRE Policy and Research Coordinator at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (and former Nuclear Watch New Mexico Intern)
“We simply want a healthy livable community where we can safely live a good life. Where we can grow old and raise our grandchildren. I am hoping that soon we will not have to see the piles of uranium waste in our front yards – a constant reminder of what each family has experienced and the after-effects of this tragedy.”
“It is my belief that our generation has arrived at the threshold of a new era in human history…I commend the United Nations and the concerned member states that have made this treaty possible. It is an act of universal responsibility that recognises the fundamental oneness of humanity.”
— Statement on the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
October 26, 2020