[D66] [507] CollectAMexilioPubem

[RO]

wsws.org <https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/07/14/dozm-j14.html>


  Questions remain unanswered after New York City nuclear war alert

8-10 minutes
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two days after the July 11 release of a public service announcement by
New York City’s office of emergency management (OEM) for the case of a
nuclear attack, there has been no serious explanation given for this
extraordinary step taken by the administration of America’s largest
city, which is home to almost 8.5 million people and the country’s
financial center, Wall Street.

The 90 second long video <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-5d7V4Sbqk>,
which has now been watched by over half a million people, was issued
without any political explanation or context. In what appeared like a
parody on the Cold War-era advice to children to “hide under your desk”
in case a nuclear bomb is dropped, the video recommended the public to
“get inside,” “shower with soap or shampoo,” and then “stay put” and
check their “safety alerts” from the city for more information. To top
it all, the presenter ended the video with a reassuring smile, stating,
“You’ve got this.”

The utter irrationality of the content was almost as disturbing as the
very fact of the release of the video itself. Of course, all of these
recommendations would be worthless in case of an actual nuclear
detonation, which would incinerate the city and surrounding area and
turn much of the East Coast uninhabitable for generations.

A 2015 article
<https://thebulletin.org/2015/02/what-would-happen-if-an-800-kiloton-nuclear-warhead-detonated-above-midtown-manhattan/>
published by the /Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists/ noted that Russia
at the time had an estimated 700 strategic nuclear warheads each with an
explosive power of 800,000 tons of TNT that, if fired, could hit the US
within less than half an hour. If such a warhead exploded over midtown
Manhattan, it would create a gigantic fireball which would “vaporize the
structures directly below it and produce an immense blast wave and
high-speed winds, crushing even heavily built concrete structures within
a couple miles of ground zero. …Within tens of minutes, everything
within approximately five to seven miles of Midtown Manhattan would be
engulfed by a gigantic firestorm.”

The article continues to describe the apocalyptic scenario as follows:
“Those who tried to escape through the streets would have been
incinerated by the hurricane-force winds filled with firebrands and
flames. Even those able to find shelter in the lower-level sub-basements
of massive buildings would likely suffocate from fire-generated gases or
be cooked alive as their shelters heated to oven-like conditions. The
fire would extinguish all life and destroy almost everything else. Tens
of miles downwind of the area of immediate destruction, radioactive
fallout would begin to arrive within a few hours of the detonation.”

The response in the national and local media to the public service
announcement has been marked by extreme complacency and indifference,
with most outlets limiting themselves to perfunctory reports. The /New
York Times/, whichjust found that “people around the world are better
off than ever,”
<https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/07/12/mwwn-j12.html> has not
published a single article on it, as of this writing.

By contrast, thousands took to social media to express their shock and
profound discomfort, with many correctly asking, “is there something I
should know about?” Clearly, there is.

But no serious answer to this question has been given by either New York
City or White House officials. In a press conference that was almost as
bizarre as the video itself, Democratic Mayor Eric Adams defended the
video, saying, “I don’t think it was alarmist. I’m a big believer in
better safe than sorry. I take my hat off to OEM. This was right after
the attacks in the Ukraine, and OEM took a very proactive step to say
let’s be prepared. And it doesn’t mean just a nuclear attack, it’s any
natural disaster. Pack a bag. Know where your medicines are located.
These are just smart things to do.”

Adams then insisted that the decision to publish this video was made by
his administration alone, stating, “it was of my briefing, because when
I saw it and heard it, I thought it was a great idea. My understanding
is that it was really taking necessary steps after what happened in
Ukraine to give preparedness.”

At a White House briefing on Wednesday, US National Security Advisor
Jake Sullivan also insisted that the initiative had been taken by the
city, without coordination with the White House. His language, however,
was notably evasive. He said, “I do not believe that it [the public
service announcement] was the result of any intelligence-sharing from
the federal government to New York City,” and added, “I can’t speak as
to why they put it out at this point.”

Workers cannot take these statements at face value. The decision for the
release was taken in the midst of the biggest war ranging in Europe
since 1945, in which NATO is effectively fighting a proxy war in Ukraine
against Russia, the world’s second-largest nuclear power.

Without any public declaration, much less public discussion or
democratic decision, the US has effectively entered a military conflict
with Russia. While gutting funds to social and COVID spending, the US
government has funneled tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons
into the Ukrainian army, including long-range missiles that can hit
Russian territory, assisting in military strikes on Russian targets and
engaging in one major provocation after another.

Although US President Joe Biden has repeatedly ridiculed and dismissed
warnings by Russian President Vladimir Putin that the Kremlin is
prepared to make use of its nuclear arsenal, the /Wall Street Journal/
reported recently that since February, there had been “a series of
urgent meetings in the administration to map out how Mr. Biden should
respond if Russia conducts a nuclear detonation in Ukraine or around the
Black Sea. Officials will not discuss the classified results of those
tabletop exercises.”

At its summit two weeks ago, NATO announced plans for “high-intensity …
warfighting against nuclear-armed peer-competitors,”
<https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/07/01/ftvp-j01.html> an
extraordinary announcement that, again, has been almost entirely blacked
out by the media.

It should also be noted that the head of New York City’s Office of
Emergency Management is Zach Iscol, who was appointed by Adams on
February 22, just days before the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Iscol
is a representative of what the WSWS has termed the “CIA Democrats
<https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/03/07/dems-m07.html>”: former
intelligence and military personnel who are deeply embedded in the US
national security apparatus and have come to play a major role in
Democratic Party politics.

Iscol is a former Marine who was involved in the Second Battle of
Fallujah in 2004, the single biggest battle during the bloody,
decades-long US occupation of Iraq. The city, one of the oldest urban
settlements of human civilization, was turned into a sea of ruins and
has become a sinister symbol of the war crimes of US imperialism
<https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/06/08/pers-j08.html> against the
people of Iraq. In 2020, Iscol unsuccessfully ran for the office of
mayor, pledging to “translate” his experience during the battle of
Fallujah to New York City — a threat that must no doubt be taken seriously.

While the immediate background behind the issuing of this video remains
to be clarified, it confirms the warnings by the WSWS about the very
real threat of nuclear war. Writing in April this year, the WSWS warned
that “Capitalism is normalizing mass death
<https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/04/09/pers-a09.html>,” first from
the pandemic, and now from a war, including one fought with nuclear weapons.

    The total devaluation of human life, the indifference to mass death
    in the pandemic and the recklessness with which American capitalism
    is rushing into conflict with Russia reflect the views and social
    character of the American ruling class. This parasitic oligarchy
    feasts upon the impoverishment and exploitation of the working
    population.

    Living on financial speculation made possible by a credit bubble
    inflated by the Federal Reserve, fearing and hating the working
    population of America and the world, the American ruling class is as
    desperate and reckless as it is ruthless. The central question is
    what will develop more quickly: the war drive of the capitalist
    oligarchy or the growing global rebellion of the working class.

On 7/14/22 11:17, RO wrote:
> https://tass.com/politics/1478711
>
>
> 12 Jul, 11:32
>
>
>   US, allies teetering on brink of military confrontation with Moscow,
>   says diplomat
>
> Maria Zakharova also slammed Japan’s attempts to paint Russia as a
> country that made nuclear threats
>
> MOSCOW, July 12. /TASS/. The United States and its allies are
> teetering on the brink of an open military conflict with Moscow, which
> would be fraught with nuclear tensions, Russian Foreign Ministry
> Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on Tuesday.
>
> "After provoking an escalation of the Ukrainian crisis and unleashing
> a violent hybrid confrontation with Russia, Washington and its allies
> are dangerously teetering on the brink of an open military
> confrontation with our country, which means a direct armed conflict
> between nuclear powers. Clearly, such a confrontation would be fraught
> with nuclear escalation," the statement reads.
>
> Zakharova also slammed Japan’s attempts to paint Russia as a country
> that made nuclear threats. "It is unacceptable to try to distort the
> logic of deterrence, which is what Russia’s official statements on
> nuclear issues are based on, for propaganda reasons, as well as to
> depict us as a country threatening to use nuclear weapons," she stressed.
>
> The Russian diplomat added that the tone and focus of Japanese Prime
> Minister Fumio Kishida’s remarks on the nuclear weapons issue were
> perplexing. "We have taken note of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio
> Kishida’s recent anti-Russian remarks, including his controversial
> statements on the nuclear weapons issue. Their focus and tone are
> puzzling. In particular, in order to justify the move to choose
> Hiroshima as the host city of a G7 summit, a remark was made that
> there was no better alternative to the city in a situation where
> "Russia’s use of nuclear weapons and nuclear threats are becoming a
> reality’," the statement added.
>
> On 7/14/22 11:13, RO wrote:
>> https://www.frontnieuws.com/rood-alert-nyc-biedt-inwoners-suicidaal-advies-over-atoomaanval-terwijl-de-vs-poetin-pusht-tot-een-first-strike-nucleaire-aanval-op-meerdere-steden-om-amerika-te-vernietigen/
>>
>> July 14, 2022
>> 2046
>> 5
>> <https://www.frontnieuws.com/rood-alert-nyc-biedt-inwoners-suicidaal-advies-over-atoomaanval-terwijl-de-vs-poetin-pusht-tot-een-first-strike-nucleaire-aanval-op-meerdere-steden-om-amerika-te-vernietigen/#comments>
>>
>>
>> On 7/14/22 07:04, RO wrote:
>>> https://www.norad.mil/Newsroom/Article/2857439/norad-is-ready-to-track-santas-flight-for-the-66th-year/
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 7/14/22 06:56, RO wrote:
>>>> CollectAMexilioPubem
>>>>
>>>> JD delta 159
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