NUCLEAR WEAPONS, DAN ZAK, C-SPAN

Dan Zak and Helen Young appeared on C-Span.org on August 27,2016 (taped on July 25 at The Half King Literary Series, NYC)

Helen Young is a documentary filmmaker whose work in progress is "Nuclear Insecurity."
Dan Zak is the general assignment feature writer for the Washington Post. 

We have reviewed, recommended and referred to his book Almighty in Posts of Aug 2, Aug 11, Aug 25 and posted a review on Amazon



                                                                       

Mr. Zak states that he was motivated, in part, to write his book from "a sense of guilt"about not knowing more about the Nuclear Weapons issue.
This lead to the intensive research and many interviews which formed the foundation of his book.

Both discussed what we have here referred to as the "out of sight, out of mind" problem concerning the public's lack of awareness and involvement in this issue.

Mr. Zak states that when there are too many crises in the public mind it can be overwhelming for many of us.
He cites concerns over climate change, for example, which if coupled with the subject of Nuclear Weapons and the potential for humanity to be "extinguished instantly" then "people feel paralyzed." (Helen Young)

Faced with what he calls "the immensity" of this issue, people look to their leaders to deal with it. Mr. Zak found it "disturbing" that many of our representatives in Congress are ignorant regarding this urgent, imminent and dangerous threat to our lives.


                                               

    


Add to that the "highly technical" and "classified" aspects of Nuclear Weapons which make it all too "abstract" for the average citizen to deal with.


                                                   

    


Mr Zak linked the two issues of Nuclear War and Climate Change in a discussion of the potential for war between India and Pakistan caused by a future acute climate change-induced water shortage in the area. Referring to a widely cited study/model predicting over 2 billion deaths worldwide in such a war with the two adversaries detonating 100 warheads (just a portion of their robust Nuclear Arsenals) causing catastrophic climatic change and nearly global famine.


                                                   
                                                

Ominously, the NYTS has recently reported that the current violent unrest in the disputed Kashmir Province "is the most sustained and violent since 2010."
                                                 
                                                 
                                               

   



Zak and Young concluded on a note of HOPE. Mr. Zak is encouraged by a youthful European movement against Nuclear Weapons. Both are further encouraged by "legal" actions being pursued by the Marshall Island's Lawsuits against the Nuclear Weapons Nations and by the "Humanitarian Pledge" - a new and important petition, signed by 127 nations and counting, to convene a "Convention" to ban and abolish Nuclear Weapons. As Mr. Zak notes: all other weapons of mass destruction, biological, chemical, as well as landmines and cluster bombs have been banned by treaty and international law - except the most dangerous, destructive weapons of all!


                                                   

Please watch and listen to Dan Zak and Helen Young. Make the time and the effort to be informed and involved on the Nuclear Weapons threat as if our very lives depend on it. Because they do!

ABOLITION IN OUR TIME. WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME



                                                    

 

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Pakistan has problems. Loadshedding too

AMAZING....

Pakistan has many problems. The rising might of the militants, an economy in bad shape and maddening power cuts! Protesters angry at the frequent 'load-shedding' broke window panes. Zardari and co better wake up fast!

Images: Reuters

Traders protest against power-cuts in Multan

India-Pakistan War – root cause

History of War

Although the Eastern wing of Pakistan was more populous than the Western one, political power since independence rested with the Western elite. This caused considerable resentment in East Pakistan and a charismatic Bengali leader called, Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, most forcefully articulated that resentment by forming an opposition political party called the Awami League and demanding more autonomy for East Pakistan within the Pakistani Federation.

In the Pakistani general elections held in 1970, the Sheikh's party won the majority of seats, securing a complete majority in East Pakistan. In all fairness, the Sheikh should have been Prime Minister of Pakistan, or at least the ruler of his province. But West Pakistan's ruling elite were so dismayed by the turn of events and by the Sheikh's demands for autonomy that instead of allowing him to rule East Pakistan, they put him in jail.

The dawn of 1971 saw a great human tragedy unfolding in erstwhile East Pakistan. Entire East Pakistan was in revolt. In the West, General Yahya Khan, who had appointed himself President in 1969, had given the job of pacifying East Pakistan to his junior, General Tikka Khan. The crackdown of 25 March 1971 ordered by Tikka Khan, left thousands of Bengalis dead and Sheikh Mujibur Rehman was arrested the next day. The same day, the Pakistani Army began airlifting two of its divisions plus a brigade strength formation to its Eastern Wing. Attempts to dis-arm Bengali troops were not entirely successful and within weeks of the 25 March massacres, many former Bengali officers and troops of the Pakistani Army had joined Bengali resistance fighters in different parts of East Pakistan.

The Pakistani Army conducted several crackdowns in different parts of Bangladesh, leading to massive loss of civilian life. The details of those horrific massacres, in which defenseless people were trapped and machine-gunned, is part of Bangladeshi history. Survivors compare it to the Nazi extermination of Jews. At the same time, the Pakistani Administration in Dhaka thought it could pacify the Bengali peasantry by appropriating the land of the Hindu population and gifting it to Muslims. While this did not impress the peasantry, it led to the exodus of more than 8 million refugees (more than half of them Hindus) to neighboring India.

West Bengal was the worst affected by the refugee problem and the Indian government was left holding the enormous burden. Repeated appeals by the Indian government failed to elicit any response from the international community and by April 1971, the then Indian Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, decided that the only solution lay in helping Bengali freedom fighters, especially the Mukti Bahini, to liberate East Pakistan, which had already been re-christened Bangladesh by its people.

History of War