Russia, Ukraine and Preventing Nuclear Holocaust
There are few political ads that are more famous than Ronald Reagan’s “It’s Morning Again in America.” These sixty seconds showcased America on the rise and inspired the hope and optimism that led to Reagan’s landslide reelection victory in 1984.
With just three weeks to go until our November midterm elections, I find myself wondering if there has ever been a time where it felt less like morning in America. Violent crime is surging. Inflation is at record highs with no end in sight. Gas prices are on the rise. Multiple states have declared emergencies due to open borders and the unprecedented surge of people illegally crossing our borders. Americans across the country, regardless of political affiliation, are feeling this pain.
But the issue that you won’t hear about anywhere on the news is the most existential threat of all: nuclear war.
When we elect our President, we elect our Commander in Chief. There are important implications that go along with that title. Our Commander in Chief is ultimately the person in charge of our military, and with that responsibility comes the duty to protect and defend the security and freedom of the American people. Our Commander in Chief is the single most powerful figure as it pertains to the national security of this country.
The biggest betrayal that a President can make is to knowingly take actions that would endanger the safety of the American people. Tragically, this is exactly what the Biden administration has done and is continuing to do by escalating their proxy war with Russia, discouraging diplomatic efforts and bringing the entire world closer to the brink of nuclear catastrophe.
Sixty years ago, my parents lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis. This was the “duck and cover” era where children at schools were taught to hide under their desks in the event of a nuclear attack – a ridiculous protocol that in reality would not have saved a single life. Thankfully, under the leadership of President John F. Kennedy, nuclear disaster was averted.
One would think we’ve come a long way since the days of the first Cold War, and with such remarkable advancements in technology, that we would surely be better prepared today.
Unfortunately, the opposite is true. At 8:07 AM on January 13, 2018 more than one million residents of Hawaii and tourists who were visiting received an emergency alert from State Civil Defense stating “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.” Over the next 37 minutes, the people of Hawaii faced a very sobering reality… there was no shelter. Families huddled in their closets, believing these would be their final moments together. A father desperate to protect his daughter, lowered the terrified young girl into a manhole, unsure if they would ever see each other again. The gravity of nuclear war and the reality that our leaders have failed us and left us to our doom was impossible to deny.
I ran for President in 2020 because of the threat of nuclear war. I saw the signs. I knew it was coming, unless we changed course. I spoke about this issue with great urgency at every rally, town hall and media appearance. Reporters were usually either baffled or annoyed by my insistence that we must address this threat, instead wishing I would use that time to launch personal attacks against other candidates or then incumbent President Trump.
The other candidates running for President and our short-sighted media refused to talk about this issue. They failed to take seriously the one issue that literally presents an existential threat to life as we know it, for the American people and for the world.
Our leaders in Washington and their corporate media allies desperately want us to buy into this false choice of either falling in line and supporting a blank check to fund this ongoing proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, or risk being smeared as a Putin apologist who is anti-democracy. They want us to believe that the only way to help the people of Ukraine is to escalate and send more bombs.
They want us to believe that this conflict began in February when Putin invaded Ukraine. That’s not true. Putin should not have invaded Ukraine, but that is not when this war began. Our media and warmongers in Washington want us to forget that the former Soviet Union once had its own version of NATO. As the first Cold War ended, in an effort to de-escalate tensions and normalize relations with the west, the Soviet Union dissolved its collective military alliance with the seven other Central and Eastern European nations known as The Warsaw Pact.
As a measure of good faith, the United States first assured Soviet President Gorbachev and later Russian President Yeltsin that the US would not seek to expand our own defensive alliance, NATO. Unfortunately, that promise was not kept. First, President Clinton would expand NATO to include Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Then, President George W. Bush expanded this alliance to include seven more countries as NATO gradually moved in on the Russian border. However, it was a promise made in his final year that would push Vladimir Putin over the edge. President Bush declared that NATO would soon expand to include Georgia and Ukraine, thereby effectively having NATO members surrounding the Russian border.
Vladimir Putin is now threatening he may use a nuclear weapon.
What is our President and Commander in Chief doing to de-escalate tensions and walk us back from the brink of nuclear war? What has he done to ensure the safety of the American people and bring about peace? The answer is nothing. When Ukraine and Russia were at the negotiating table in March 2022, intelligence experts say it was the United States that discouraged Ukraine from reaching an agreement. Now, seven months later, we are teetering on the edge toward a nuclear holocaust.
Nuclear wars cannot be won. They can only result in death and destruction. Any politician who states “first strike nuclear weapons are on the table” clearly does not know or care about the devastating consequences of that policy and is therefore unfit to serve.
A nation cannot be prosperous and free without peace. While warmongers like Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney attempt to slander me for daring to question our foreign policy establishment and military industrial complex, I will continue to think of my brothers and sisters in uniform who have made the ultimate sacrifice. To honor them – I will never be silent and I will never stop fighting for peace.
Ready for an ever deeper dive on this critical issue?
I sat down with Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs (President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development, and advisor to three United Nations Secretaries-General) to discuss the looming threat of nuclear war — you won’t want to miss it.
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Dear Tulsi:
Your post touched me deeply. In 1962, I was a 9-year-old little boy who was doing the “duck and cover” drill in Sister Bridget Mary’s class, who went home to see National Guardsmen marching down our Miami neighborhood full of Cuban refugees who had just escaped Castro’s takeover of their country. I was also the 64-year-old man who was calling his wife, from Maui where I live, to say my final goodbye, when my car and phone were alerting me that a nuclear bomb was heading to Hawaii and this was “not a drill” like what I remembered from my childhood. Tulsi, your historical lesson is spot on. As someone who served in the Army, in Europe, during the very height of the Cold War in the 1970s, I can remember how close we were to war with the Soviet Union at that time. We used to take potshots at the Russian soldiers, over the border, when we were on military maneuvers in West Germany. My children’s lives, and their children’s lives, have never been more threatened than right now. If this country doesn’t do a complete 180 in these next two elections, this country is doomed. Take it from a man who has lived long enough to know that as a fact, not someone who simply adheres to one of our two self-destructive political parties. Tulsi, you know this, which is why you dumped the Democratic Party. Even though that party was respectable back in the days when my parents voted for Kennedy, it is absolutely destroying everything of moral value in America today, and our feckless President doesn’t even know what planet he’s on. This is not just a political rant. It is as stark a warning as I have ever given, one as real as when I ducked and covered under my desk as a 9-year-old boy.
Keep up the good Tulsi. God bless you.
Amazing insight, Tulsi. I find myself often frustrated with our media who continue to fail younger Americans. Today’s generation, for the most part, are completely unaware of what’s really going on with Russia/Ukraine and the dangerous threat of nuclear war that we’re currently facing. If you dare mention it, then our society automatically dismisses it as something that only happens in Hollywood.
Grateful for your leadership and willingness to bring this to the forefront of discussion in America. Most likely, with many of the Biden administration’s policies already in effect, difficult days are ahead, but this is an issue where we still have one exit ramp left before disaster. I sincerely hope and pray that your willingness to bring this real threat into the conversation will inform and empower Americans to vote for change and peace in November.