Nuclear War Danger Becomes an Issue in U.S. Presidential Election

A blunt warning was delivered by former U.N. weapons inspector and peace activist Scott Ritter on the weekly International Peace Coalition Zoom call on Sept. 20. He said the attempt by British Prime Minister Starmer to get President Biden to agree to allow Ukraine to destroy targets inside Russia, had it succeeded, likely would have provoked a nuclear response by Russia (cf. SAS 38/24).

“If Biden had signed, the war would have started that night,” and nuclear weapons could have been launched on Saturday, Sept. 14. The Russians know that long-range missiles can only be used with NATO guidance and control, and that would constitute a NATO declaration of war. “We all almost died on Saturday,” Ritter added.

Now, nuclear war is an issue in the U.S. presidential election, since Donald Trump is warning of the danger. “Whether or not you support Trump, you must make sure your candidate responds to the demand that he or she oppose a war. Jill Stein must be pressured; Kamala Haris must be pressured. Every candidate must respond.”

While the British are pushing the line that Vladimir Putin is bluffing when he warns of dire consequences if Russian security is threatened, Ritter concluded that the life of everyone depends on rallying the American people against the Biden administration’s continuing commitment to “weaken Russia”.

Trump has been speaking much more openly about this danger in recent weeks. At a Pennsylvania town meeting on Sept. 4, he charged that under Biden-Harris, we “are heading into World War III territory….” Voters should be more concerned about this than about “global warming”. Then, at a Detroit town meeting on Sept. 17, he warned that a nuclear attack “is the single biggest threat to the world, not only [in] Michigan [but] to the world, and you’re not going to care so much about making cars, if that stuff starts happening”.

This theme was addressed in a widely-circulated op-ed in The Hill on the same day, signed by Donald Trump, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. The two open with an appeal for negotiations to end the Ukraine war: “At a time when American leaders should be focused on finding a diplomatic off-ramp to a war that should never have been allowed to take place, the Biden-Harris administration is instead pursuing a policy that Russia says it will interpret as an act of war. In the words of Vladimir Putin, long-range strikes in Russia ‘will mean that NATO countries — the United States and European countries — are at war with Russia.’

“It is past time to de-escalate this conflict. This is more important than any of the political issues our nation argues about. Nuclear war would mean the end of civilization as we know it, maybe even the end of the human species.” They warn that “We need to demand, right now, that Harris and President Biden reverse their insane war agenda and open direct negotiations with Moscow.”

Former Democratic presidential candidates Tulsi Gabbard and Dennis Kucinich have also issued stark warnings over the past weeks.