Rhode Island's call to action: House joins Senate in pressuring Congressional Delegation

State Legislature urges Rhode Island's Congressional members to enhance national security efforts for the people, not the military-industrial complex

On June 6, 2024, the Rhode Island House passed a resolution urging the federal government to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). The resolution specifically addresses each member of the Rhode Island Congressional Delegation, along with other governmental officials. It mirrors a similar resolution passed by the Rhode Island Senate two years ago.

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons currently has 93 signatories and 70 parties. This difference reflects that countries must ratify treaties after signing them. Notably, none of the nine nuclear-armed states—China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States—are parties to the treaty.

The following is a brief recap of last Thursday’s debate in the House. Representative Shanley perfectly summarized the resolution and its rationales within the two-minute speaking time allotted to House members and moved for its adoption.

The following is a transcript of the video:

This is a resolution sponsored by Chairwoman Donovan urging the federal government

• to spearhead the global effort to prevent nuclear war by renouncing the option of using nuclear weapons as a first strike;

• ending the President's sole authority to launch a nuclear attack;

• canceling plans to modernize and update the nuclear arsenal; and

• pursuing a verifiable agreement among nuclear-armed states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals.

In addition, it asks the federal delegation to sign and help ratify the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which has already been signed and ratified by seventy different countries.

It is a worth resolution, and I move passage.

Representative Corvese stated, “Humankind cannot survive a nuclear conflagration.” He went on to say, “The worst decision that any leader of any country on this globe can make is the decision to let those missiles fly.” Referring to the 1938 Chamberlain pact with Nazi Germany, Corvese summed up his position on the resolution by stating that it is based on a policy of appeasement. He ended by saying, “For that reason and that reason alone, I'll be voting against it.”

Representative Corvese appears to mistake disarmament for appeasement. Chamberlain's policy of appeasement involved making concessions to an aggressive power, Nazi Germany, to avoid conflict. In contrast, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons aims to eliminate nuclear weapons worldwide, thereby reducing the risk of nuclear war. Such a war can start due to miscalculations, miscommunication, escalation of regional conflicts, false alarms, or nuclear proliferation. Among these risks, artificial intelligence represents a recent, growing, and poorly understood threat. Simply put, artificial intelligence is too fast for humans and too unpredictable.

Representative Corvese seems stuck in 1938 and completely fails to understand what the eminent historian Richard Rhodes concluded in his book Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb:

If real political leaders understood from one end of the Cold War to the other that even one hydrogen bomb was sufficient deterrence, why did they allow the arms race to devour the wealth of the nation while it increased the risk of an accidental Armageddon?

The following video clip introduces the breathtaking story of Vasili Arkhipov, a Soviet naval officer whose actions during the Cuban Missile Crisis prevented a potential nuclear catastrophe.

In his book Gambling With Armageddon, the Pulitzer-winning historian Martin J. Sherwin provides what is likely to be the definitive account of how a nuclear war between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union was avoided during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. It was more by luck than by intelligent leadership.

In 1983, Stanislav Petrov accomplished a similar feat by ignoring Soviet military protocol, a story summed up in the following video.

There is another case like this, although it is less clear: the Okinawa missiles of October. Who knows how many such near-war incidents we have survived?

The composure and resolute decisions of single individuals prevented what could have escalated into a full-scale nuclear war. These events demonstrate the critical importance of individual judgment and moral courage in averting global disaster.

Freeman Dyson, a renowned physicist and long-time participant in nuclear developments spanning the full spectrum of such activities, succinctly captured the essence in his 1984 book Weapons of Hope:¹

Assured destruction would be a stable strategy in a world of computers. In a world of human beings, it fails to bring stability because it lacks the essential ingredients which human beings require: respect for human feelings, tolerance for human inconsistency, adaptability to the unpredictable twists and turns of human history.

Next up during the House deliberations was Representative Newberry. He remarked that the resolution seemed to have more to do with climate change than anything else and that the word “radiation” didn’t even occur in the resolution, saying “that's actually the most catastrophic thing we would get if there ever were full-scale nuclear war.”

Representative Newberry apparently didn’t read the first “WHEREAS” of the resolution. One is left with the impression that he thinks both climate change and nuclear winter are Chinese hoaxes.

Representative Sanchez gave an impassioned speech, mentioning that the interests of the war industry take precedence over those of the people of this country. He fittingly ended with a call for peace and human dignity across this earth.

Here is the final vote on the resolution:

Given the irresponsible nuclear brinkmanship on display across the world—in Europe, the Middle East, and the South China Sea—the passing of the resolution urging the U.S. to become a party to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons by Rhode Island is timely and significant.

One particular instance of imminent proliferation that could take the world in the wrong direction is the tension between Iran and Israel. Iran has been enriching uranium to a level very close to bomb-grade quality, far beyond what is needed for civil nuclear energy and even research reactors.

As the Arms Control Association wrote recently:

Accelerating the production of uranium enriched to 60 percent U-235 is concerning because the material can be quickly enriched to weapons-grade levels or 90 percent. (emphasis added)

Indeed, the recent Iranian collisions with Israel have led to a flare-up of open discussion in Iran about developing nuclear weapons. As Ambassador Chas Freeman, a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense with a long and distinguished diplomatic career, and a visiting scholar at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, summed up in a recent interview:

Israeli behavior provides ample reason for Iran to go nuclear, which it has not done out of religious scruples up to this point.

Finally, for completeness, here is the text of the resolution passed last Thursday.

URGING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO PURSUE A BROAD RANGE OF MEASURES TO REDUCE THE DANGER OF NUCLEAR WAR, TO SIGN AND RATIFY THE TREATY ON THE PROHIBITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS (TPNW), TO MAKE NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT THE CENTERPIECE OF OUR NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY, AND TO SPEARHEAD A GLOBAL EFFORT TO PREVENT NUCLEAR WAR

Introduced By

Representatives Donovan, Morales, Henries, Stewart, Batista, Cruz, Speakman, McGaw, Potter, and Ackerman

Date Introduced

January 26, 2024

Referred To

House State Government & Elections

Resolution

WHEREAS, Nuclear weapons are the most destructive weapons ever created by mankind, with immense destructive capacity and lingering radiation effects after detonation; and
WHEREAS, Almost ninety percent of these weapons are in the hands of the United States and Russia, and the rest are held by seven other countries: China, France, Israel, India, North Korea, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom; and
WHEREAS, The use of even a tiny fraction of these weapons could cause worldwide climate disruption and global famine; for example, as few as 100 Hiroshima-sized, small bombs by modern standards, would put at least five million tons of soot into the atmosphere and cause climate disruption across the planet, cutting food production and putting two billion people at risk of starvation; and
WHEREAS, A large-scale nuclear war would kill hundreds of millions of people directly and cause unimaginable environmental damage and catastrophic climate disruption by dropping temperatures across the planet to levels not seen since the ice age; under such conditions, the vast majority of the human race would starve and it is possible we would become extinct as a species; and
WHEREAS, Since the height of the Cold War, the United States and Russia have reduced their active weapons by more than 25,000 nuclear weapons, but approximately 12,500 still exist on both sides, thousands of which are on alert for use on short notice; and
WHEREAS, Under current federal law, the President has the authority to unilaterally initiate the use of nuclear weapons, and during times of crisis, individuals lower in the chain of command might mistakenly do so; and
WHEREAS, Despite assurances that these arsenals exist solely to guarantee that they are never used, there have been many occasions when nuclear armed states have prepared to use these weapons, and war has been averted at the last instance; and
WHEREAS, The power of the United States stockpile of nuclear weapons is too devastating, and the result of their use too irrevocable to be left to the sole authority of the President; and
WHEREAS, Nuclear weapons do not possess some magical quality that prevents their use; and
WHEREAS, Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara said, in speaking about the Cuban Missile Crisis, “It was luck that prevented nuclear war... yet our nuclear policy cannot be rationally based on a hope that our luck will continue"; and
WHEREAS, The United States maintains nuclear missiles on hair-trigger alert, capable of being launched within minutes after a presidential order, greatly increasing the risk of accidental, mistaken, or unauthorized launch; and
WHEREAS, As the effects of climate change place increased stress on communities around the world and intensify the likelihood of conflict, the danger of nuclear war will grow; and
WHEREAS, The planned expenditure of more than $1.2 trillion to enhance our nuclear arsenal, and the ever so many more trillions worldwide for similar expenditures by other nuclear weapons countries will not only increase the risk of nuclear disaster, but fuel a global arms race and divert crucial resources needed to assure the well-being of the American people and peoples all over the world; and
WHEREAS, The United States taxpayers spend approximately $4.6 million every hour of every day on nuclear weapons; and
WHEREAS, There is an alternative to this march toward nuclear war; and
WHEREAS, The United States, as well as the United Kingdom, China, France and Russia, are obligated under the Treaty of the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to take concrete steps toward eliminating their nuclear arsenals but, since 1970, such steps have not been forthcoming; and
WHEREAS, In July of 2017, the United Nations adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and as of January 22, 2021, the Treaty went into effect; and
WHEREAS, The Treaty (TPNW) makes it illegal under international law to develop, test, produce, manufacture or otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile, transfer, use, or threaten the use of nuclear weapons, and sets out procedures for nuclear-armed signatories to destroy their existing nuclear stockpiles; and
WHEREAS, A public renouncing of the option of launching a first strike would reduce tensions and may invite reciprocal public renunciations; and
WHEREAS, The United States, as well all other nuclear weapons powers are not yet signatories to this Treaty (TPNW); and
WHEREAS, A leadership role for the United States in the elimination of the existence of nuclear weapons is appropriate and desirable and could lead to new and fruitful international negotiations toward their elimination; now, therefore be it
RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby urges the federal government to spearhead a global effort to prevent nuclear war by renouncing the option of using nuclear weapons in a “first strike”, ending the President’s sole authority to launch a nuclear attack, taking nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert, canceling any plan to replace or modernize its nuclear arsenal with enhanced nuclear weapons, and, actively pursue a verifiable agreement among nuclear armed states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals; and be it further
RESOLVED, That this House hereby further urges the President and the Senate of the United States to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, the Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, and each member of the Rhode Island Congressional Delegation.

1. This is a Dyson quote also appearing inWard Wilson’s It Is Possible: A Future Without Nuclear Weapons.