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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <a
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href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/07/14/dozm-j14.html">wsws.org</a>
<h1 class="reader-title">Questions remain unanswered after New
York City nuclear war alert</h1>
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<div class="reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">8-10 minutes</div>
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<p>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.</p>
<p>The <a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-5d7V4Sbqk"
target="_blank" rel="noopener">90 second long video</a>,
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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>A <a
href="https://thebulletin.org/2015/02/what-would-happen-if-an-800-kiloton-nuclear-warhead-detonated-above-midtown-manhattan/"
target="_blank" rel="noopener">2015 article</a>
published by the <em>Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists</em>
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.”</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>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 <em>New York
Times</em>, which<a
href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/07/12/mwwn-j12.html">
just found that “people around the world are better
off than ever,”</a> has not published a single article
on it, as of this writing.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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 <em>Wall Street Journal</em>
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.”</p>
<p>At its summit two weeks ago, NATO announced <a
href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/07/01/ftvp-j01.html">plans
for “high-intensity … warfighting against
nuclear-armed peer-competitors,”</a> an extraordinary
announcement that, again, has been almost entirely
blacked out by the media.</p>
<p>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 “<a
href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/03/07/dems-m07.html">CIA
Democrats</a>”: 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.</p>
<p>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 <a
href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/06/08/pers-j08.html">war
crimes of US imperialism</a> 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.</p>
<p>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 “<a
href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/04/09/pers-a09.html">Capitalism
is normalizing mass death</a>,” first from the
pandemic, and now from a war, including one fought with
nuclear weapons.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>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.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>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.</p>
</blockquote>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 7/14/22 11:17, RO wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:443f8dd4-54f0-ecb9-08cc-9ecec1409cbd@gmail.com">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<address><span class="news-header__date-date"><span
data-ng-if="visibleDate" class="ng-binding ng-scope"><a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://tass.com/politics/1478711"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://tass.com/politics/1478711</a></span></span></address>
<p><span class="news-header__date-date"><span
data-ng-if="visibleDate" class="ng-binding ng-scope"><br>
</span></span></p>
<p><span class="news-header__date-date"><span
data-ng-if="visibleDate" class="ng-binding ng-scope">12 Jul,
11:32</span></span></p>
<h1 class="news-header__title">US, allies teetering on brink of
military confrontation with Moscow, says diplomat </h1>
<div class="news-header__lead">Maria Zakharova also slammed
Japan’s attempts to paint Russia as a country that made nuclear
threats</div>
<div class="text-content">
<div class="text-block">
<p>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.</p>
<p>"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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
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</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 7/14/22 11:13, RO wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:9822d9b6-0e33-d937-8269-86d045d04583@gmail.com">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;
charset=UTF-8">
<address><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="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/"
moz-do-not-send="true">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/</a><br>
<br>
</address>
<div class="td-module-meta-info"> <span class="td-post-date"><time
class="entry-date updated td-module-date"
datetime="2022-07-14T07:42:50+00:00"><font
style="vertical-align: inherit;"><font
style="vertical-align: inherit;">July 14, 2022</font></font></time></span>
<div class="td-post-views"><span class="td-nr-views-61436"><font
style="vertical-align: inherit;"><font
style="vertical-align: inherit;">2046</font></font></span></div>
<div class="td-post-comments"><a
href="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"
moz-do-not-send="true"><font style="vertical-align:
inherit;"><font style="vertical-align: inherit;">5</font></font></a></div>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 7/14/22 07:04, RO wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:ed193c24-9acf-ff0f-2512-4f8375bc5cdb@gmail.com">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;
charset=UTF-8">
<address><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.norad.mil/Newsroom/Article/2857439/norad-is-ready-to-track-santas-flight-for-the-66th-year/"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.norad.mil/Newsroom/Article/2857439/norad-is-ready-to-track-santas-flight-for-the-66th-year/</a></address>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 7/14/22 06:56, RO wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:5a91d0d7-4e4e-56df-5d7a-5c1d2c552252@gmail.com">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">CollectAMexilioPubem
JD delta 159
</pre>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
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