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BY KARY LOVE

Dangnabbit, that’s where we are at. 

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), or the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty, is a legally binding international agreement that comprehensively prohibits nuclear weapons with the ultimate goal being their total elimination. It was adopted on 7 July 2017, opened for signature on 20 September 2017, and entered into force on 22 January 2021. 

Not too surprisingly, the criminal outlaw nations who have nukes don’t like it. As has long been said in the USA, “when guns are made illegal, only criminals will have guns.” Surprise, surprise, surprise, this logic also applies to nuclear weapons! 

What outlaw nations have nuclear weapons? Here is the list of the nine most wanted: United States, Russia, UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel. A true “rogues gallery.” 

The outlaw nations not only have their criminal arsenals in defiance of the law of nations, but they are making “more and more useable” (tactical v strategic, little v big) nukes and spending billions to do so. Every dollar spent on nukes is a theft from the schools, the hospitals, infrastructure, and communities to pay for crimes rather than uplift in the communities taxed to buy the outlaw weapons. Seems odious.

Almost seems criminal, when you think of it that way. Almost seems to be “an Axis of Evil” opposed to all humankind. Almost seems like they “have no decency left.”

Unnerving also is the “discussion” taking place among nuke criminals is the need to “use” nukes possibly in the many wars around the globe. Some suspect this topic is being raised to “normalize” the use of nukes among the peoples of the world. 

Of course, this flies in the face of every study done, all of which conclude that if the nuke “red line” is crossed, and a nuke is used in combat, then retaliation will occur, to which retaliation will occur, and the nuke war will climb the escalation ladder until they are all launched. After all, use ‘em or lose ‘em applies to the “strategic thinking,” which being part of “military intelligence” is FUBAR.

The results of such a full nuke war is “omnicide” which means “murder of everyone.” Thankfully, some humans will probably survive the initial detonations, though the nuclear pollution and dissemination of radioactive isotopes, as was the result of atmospheric testing in the 50s and 60s, will contribute to further distribute death and disease. A “nuclear winter” from the sun-obscuring dust elevated by the detonations will kill crops and food and water sources will become vectors for ingestion of radioactive isotopes by the “lucky” survivors. Such a result seems criminal, too, and “inhuman?”

The outlaw gang of nine, like criminal gangs everywhere, have a vested interest in their continuation, no matter what the rest of humanity thinks of their thuggery, and so they did not vote on the TPNW, and encouraged their allies to oppose it too. Sometimes, it seems, criminals think they are above the law and they act like it. 

Sometimes, though they claim to be allies of some and enemies of others, they all share the same goal: survival in power, just like Capone and his competition. I suspect that, at some level, the “Gang of Nine” are all allied, and dividing the “rackets” amongst themselves (“prostitution for Al, numbers for Blackie, drugs for Homer”) for their mutual benefit, not yours nor humanity’s.

Governments are supposed to be the opposite of criminal gangs, because government is subject to the rule of law. That is why, despite having guns, they are not outlaws but law enforcement. 

Being obtuse, I am not able to understand why a government that refuses to abide by the law is not an outlaw. Or, why such a government is not a criminal gang and ought to be treated as such? 

History is rife with examples of outlaw governments, from which one would hope humanity learns lessons. One lesson that ought to be learned is, once a government reveals itself to be indistinguishable from a criminal gang, unmoored from law, beware. 

It will soon degenerate into more criminality, more war, more destruction and finally, in order to stay in power, will turn on its own people to survive. Slippery slope slide eh, voila, concentration camps! Can’t have those pesky peons protesting. You are either with us or against us.

Well, now that nukes are criminal, only criminals have nukes. That is our reality. That is our world. 

What to do? Identify those responsible, those profiting, those enabling and haul them into the dock to stand accused as enemies of all humankind. 

The legal mechanisms and precedent exist to do so; Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes Trials among them, planning war crimes in time of peace is a war crime: a crime against peace and humanity. At least, shun them, vote against them, or just say no. Do not hire the hitman. Instead, support mass nonviolent hits on a Xi, or a Vlad, a Jung-un or a Joe. 

The outlaws are outed. Now they must be routed. The survival of humanity, and the rule of law, demands it. So do your kids…. Remember that ancient wisdom, you can’t hug a child with nuclear arms.

(Kary Love is a Michigan attorney who has defended nuclear resisters, including some desperado nuns, in court for decades and will on occasion use blunt force satire or actual legal arguments to make a point.)