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Rolla Peace News February 4, 2020 |
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Dear Friends: http://tomsager.org/Peaceletters/peaceletter020420.html In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2020 2. CITIZENS CLIMATE LOBBY: 2:00PM, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2020 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) US Deploys “Low-Yield” Nuclear Weapons b) Wuhan Novel Coronavirus c) “Deal of the Century:” a Crime Against Humanity d) The Iowa Caucus Race e) January Climate Data 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2020 We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office, THIS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, FROM NOON TO 1:00 PM (and most subsequent Thursdays until Peace is established). Please join us again this Thursday in saying NO WAR AGAINST IRAN. The temperature is predicted to be around 30. If you do not feel comfortable standing with us in front of the Post Office, please consider driving by and showing your support for our message by honking your horn and flashing a peace sign. 2. CITIZENS CLIMATE LOBBY: 2:00PM, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2020 Citizens Climate Lobby will meet in the meeting room in the children's section of the Rolla Public Library. 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) US Deploys “Low-Yield” Nuclear Weapons b) Wuhan Novel Coronavirus c) “Deal of the Century:” a Crime Against Humanity d) The Iowa Caucus Race e) January Climate Data US Deploys “Low-Yield” Nuclear Weapons According to the Federation of American Scientists, last month the USA deployed “low-yield” nuclear weapons for the first time aboard the submarine, USS Tennessee. Low-yield (5 kilotons, about 1/3 the potential of the bomb that devastated Hiroshima in 1945) is only by comparison to the many more powerful weapons whose yield is measured in megatons.“I have the means to make myself deadly, but that by itself, you understand, is absolutely nothing in the way of protection. What is effective is the belief those people have in my will to use the means. That’s their impression. It is absolute. Therefore I am deadly.” —Joseph Conrad (The Secret Agent) Of what use is such a weapon? We are told for protection against the Russians or possibly the Chinese; but that makes no sense at all. Likely their real purpose is to threaten and bully small recalcitrant nations without nuclear weapons such as Venezuela, Nicaragua or Iran who refuse to bow to the world's only superpower. That's a very dangerous game. Weapons are made to be used — particularly against those who are most vulnerable. As the Conrad quote above makes clear, impression is absolute. “What is effective is the belief those people have in my will to use the means.” In the Conrad novel, possession leads to use, with some very unanticipated results. Radioactive fallout knows no boundaries. Escalation into nuclear World War III could easily follow any use of nuclear weapons. As the world descends into chaos, use of nuclear weapons becomes increasingly likely. Wuhan Novel Coronavirus The Wuhan novel coronavirus, so far has infected at least 20,000 people, mostly in China and killed over 400, all but two in China. It's first cases appeared in December, 2019. While the world panics and markets fall, it is important to put this novel coronavirus in perspective. Here is a list of epidemics from Wikipedia. Going through the list, the Wuhan coronavirus doesn't appear to distinguish itself. It's kill rate is 2 to 3 percent. Some of those infected early, appears to be healing which is a sign that the epidemic may be peaking. China is now testing the Russian antiviral drug, Triazavirin, on the virus. Compare to the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic that has killed over 30 million since its onset in the 1960s and still kills hundreds of thousands annually and infects millions each year. All attempts to develop an HIV vaccine have failed including this most recent one. Both HIV and Wuhan coronavirus are thought to have jumped from other mammals to humans, although we should not rule out that these viruses may have been man-made. “Deal of the Century:” a Crime Against Humanity Donald Trump and Binyamin Netanyahu “negotiated” a peace deal for Palestine and Israel. It gave Israel everything and Palestine nothing. Like the Balfour Declaration of 1917 in which the UK declared Palestine a “homeland” for the Jews, Palestinians were not consulted.“You can’t have good policy that results in peace if you ignore one side.” —Bernie Sanders In wake of the “deal of the century” Palestine has cut ties with the United States and Israel. Juan Cole points out that in so many ways this plan is legally a crime against humanity. The Iowa Caucus Race While waiting for the Iowa Democratic Party to tally the results of the Iowa caucus, I reread Chapter 3 of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale. I may read it yet again as I await the final results. Really, how hard can it be to count a few thousand votes? In Alice's caucus race everybody wins. In Iowa, I think everybody lost. January Climate Data And while we have been engrossed by impeachment and a caucus race: Copernicus has rated January 2020 the warmest January on record; this following the warmest decade on record and the second warmest year on record. After a brief respite, Australia is burning again; and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by around 2.5 ppm over January 2019. Rolla Peace News is distributed by email once a week on Tuesday evenings (except on rare occasions) and is posted on the web at http://tomsager.org (click on Grassroots Rolla: at the top of rightmost column). If you don't wish to get notices of peace events in the Rolla area, let me know and I'll take you off this list. If you want to be added to this list, let me know. Wage peace, Helen helenm (at) fidnet.com |