[D66] [507] CollectAMexilioPubem

[RO]

wsws.org <https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/07/12/rdep-j12.html>


  NYC Emergency Management Department issues Public Service Announcement
  for nuclear attack

4-5 minutes
------------------------------------------------------------------------

/This article was originally posted on //Twitter/
<https://twitter.com/DavidNorthWSWS/status/1546903956411994112>/./

The New York City Emergency Management Department has posted a public
service announcement advising residents what they should do in the event
of a nuclear attack.

Loading Tweet ...

Incredibly, the video begins: “So there’s been a nuclear attack. Don’t
ask me how or why. Just know that the big one has hit.” Then comes the
advice:

    1) Get inside; 2) Stay inside, stay away from windows, and shower if
    exposed to radioactive fallout; 3) Stay tuned.

Just think how many lives might have been saved if the people of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki had taken these steps! What the fantasists who
created the video fail to mention is that a hydrogen bomb strike would
reduce most of New York City to flaming rubble within seconds.

Tens of thousands of people would be instantly vaporized. At least 80
percent of NYC residents would be dead within minutes of the nuclear
strike. All public services would be dysfunctional. Most of those who
survived the initial blast would be dead within a few days.

NYC and its environs would be uninhabitable for decades. The scale of
the resulting destruction is beyond description. “Tsar Bomba”—a hydrogen
bomb detonated by the Soviet Union in a nuclear test 60 years ago—
produced devastation within a 60 mile radius.

An attack on NYC would be just part of a worldwide nuclear exchange.
According to a new study using computer simulations by Louisiana State
University, a nuclear war would result in a global ice age leading to
the extinction of life on the planet.

Even worse than the delusional advice is the statement: “Don’t ask me
how or why.” But those are precisely the questions that must be asked if
a catastrophe is to be stopped. The concise answer to “why?” is that the
reckless policies of Washington triggered a nuclear war.

The release of the public service message can only mean that NYC
officials, acting on information they have received from Washington,
believe that a nuclear war is now a distinct and even imminent danger.

Rather than pulling back from the brink, Biden is escalating the
reckless war against Russia. The public service announcement is in line
with recent efforts by the US government and media to downplay the
consequences of a nuclear war and portray it as a survivable event.

In a recently published book on the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, historian
Serhi Plokhy writes that a nuclear war was averted, despite numerous
blunders and miscalculations, because American and Soviet leaders
recognized the catastrophic consequences. He writes:

    Kennedy, Khrushchev, and their generation of world leaders and the
    citizens of their countries came of age in the shadow of the atomic
    bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki…

    That generation was keenly aware of the destruction that atomic and
    especially hydrogen bombs could wreak on their countries and
    humankind as a whole. Every move of the two leaders ... was dictated
    by their fear of the use of nuclear weapons...

    There is little doubt that today there are world leaders prepared to
    take a more cavalier attitude toward nuclear weapons and nuclear war
    than Kennedy and Khrushchev had in 1962.

This is true. But the recklessness is not merely a problem of the
leaders’ psychology.

The conditions of intense capitalist crisis—producing a sense among
leaders that desperate measures are necessary and unavoidable—result in
actions that would in “normal times” be rejected out of hand as “insane.”

The only effective and rational response to the insane policies of the
capitalist regimes is their overthrow by the working class and the
unification of humanity on a progressive basis through socialism. The
alternatives, Rosa Luxemburg wrote, are “socialism or barbarism.”

Make the decision to stop war and fight for socialism! Read the World
Socialist Web Site! Join theSocialist Equality Party
<https://www.wsws.org/en/special/pages/sep/us/home.html>! Build the
Fourth International as the World Party of Socialist Revolution.

On 7/14/22 11:23, RO wrote:
>
> 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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