Popular pressure resulted in nuclear arms control and disarmament measures that curbed the nuclear arms race decades ago. Nevertheless, the nuclear arms race has gradually resumed. Given international rivalries, it remains unclear whether even the limited disarmament initiatives pursued by the Biden administration will proceed or restrain the nuclear ambitions of the nuclear powers.
Published Articles by Lawrence Wittner
The nine nuclear powers have refused to sign the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force on January 22, 2021. Instead, they have continued to engage in a nuclear arms race and to threaten nuclear war. Even so, the advent of the Biden administration offers some hope for a return to the abandoned process of nuclear disarmament.
Nationalism has seen a remarkable revival over the past decade, with the the passage of a referendum in Britain calling for withdrawal from the European Union and the surprising rise and election of rightwing, chauvinist politicians. Nevertheless, there are recent indications that the nationalist surge is waning as nations confront problems that can only be tackled on a global basis.
During Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, he denounced the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs and promised to restore them. Four years later, campaigning for re-election, he boasted that he had "brought back" 700,000 factory jobs. But, in reality, U.S. manufacturing employment declined substantially during Trump's presidency, leaving behind thousands of embittered American workers.
Back in July 1962, I was in the Deep South, working to register Black voters. It was a near-hopeless project, given the mass disenfranchisement of the region's Black population that was enforced by Southern law and an occasional dose of white terrorism. But I learned a lot about voter suppression, which -- despite the breakthrough provided by the Voting Rights Act of 1965 -- has been revived in recent years by Republicans in the states and in the nation.
After nearly four years of the Trump administration, U.S. voters have a pretty good idea of the policies the president and other Republican politicians champion when it comes to America's relations with other nations. But what about the Democrats? Do they, as some have charged, simply mirror the Republicans when it comes to America's engagement with the world? The official Democratic Party platform reveals that they do not, for it calls for ending "forever wars," terminating U.S. occupation regimes, cutting the Trump administration's bloated military budget, promoting international cooperation, and signing international arms control and climate agreements.
Although Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that American workers are "thriving" during his presidency, this contention rings hollow. Even in the years before the coronavirus pandemic, when Trump claimed he had created "the greatest economy in history," that economy left American workers with low wages, high death rates, widespread child labor, large-scale employment discrimination, long hours, and weak union representation.
Although few Americans seem to have noticed, China and the United States are currently on a collision course -- one that could easily lead to war. Their dispute, which has reached the level of military confrontation, is over control of the South China Sea, a vast, island-studded region containing a major maritime trade route and rich in oil, natural gas, and lucrative fishing areas. Both nations would be well-served by backing away from their dangerous military buildups and leaving the job of sorting out the issues to the United Nations.
Americans who grew up with nightmares of nuclear explosions should get ready for some terrifying flashbacks, for the Trump administration and its Republican enablers in Congress seem to be preparing to revive U.S. nuclear weapons tests, which were halted in 1992. This action, designed to intimidate U.S. rivals, would ignore treaty commitments and world opinion, encourage other nations to resume or begin nuclear testing, and pollute the environment with deadly radioactivity.
Currently, the world is facing onrushing catastrophes, including the coronavirus pandemic, an environmental collapse, and an increasing danger of nuclear war. And even if these disastrous developments fail to snuff out the human race, plenty of mass misery can be expected from rising economic and social inequality around the globe. But, over the course of history, human beings have been able to alter their behavior and institutions. So it's possible that they will rouse themselves and do so again.