The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki effectively ended World War II, with The United States and its allies declaring ultimate victory over The Axis Powers, Germany, Italy, and the Empire of Japan. However, the victory was short lived and the military build up which ensued WWII, culminated into the Cold War between the victors, The United States and The Soviet Union. Since WWII, the world has experienced many regional wars for control of land, resources, and people. This era can accurately be termed the Nuclear Age, when nuclear technology was actively displayed, expanded, and experimented, for force of arms in the post- WWII reshuffling of political alliances. Amid Post-Modern threats of Nuclear War rhetoric between North Korea and the United States under the Donald Trump Administration, it is important to recall Nuclear History.
History post-World War has been heavily censored and manipulated in order to cultivate a general population into asserting strategic ideologies such as democracy, capitalism, communism, ethnic, and national superiority. For example, most American high school seniors complete their history curriculum with the study of WWII. However, most of these students will not study Contemporary History, which covers World History post- 1960. Thus, these students will have a limited understanding of the Revolutions which occurred around the world in the 1960s-1990s, The Vietnam War, The Nixon Era, The Reagan Era, The Iran-Contra episodes, and all major world events from September 11th to the Global Financial Meltdown of 2008. This omission of historical events allows for this American Generation to make critical mistakes on the international stage, such as President Trump's recent call for military intervention in Venezuela, including the misunderstanding of why South Americans cringe at the thought of the US military invading South America. The average American citizen might ask, "when did the US ever invade South America," and fail to recognize the history of the American military presence in South America from the late 1970s through the late 1990s.
The same historical omission of details occurs when the conversation or topic centers on Nuclear technology. The knowledge of most Millennials about the use of Nuclear arms is limited to Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the final phase of WWII. However, older American Generations can remember their experiences of Nuclear Drills in school, Mars Bluff, the Three Mile Island Accident, and the Arkansas Nuclear Incident. Military officials and veterans can recite many more nuclear incidents. In short, the misinformation has in turn become a wide spread miseducation of the American public about the Nuclear Program in the United States. Today, we will attempt to re-educate readers about the history of Nuclear arms around the world.
In 2003, The CTBTO Preparatory Commission of Japan, published an illustration of the number of nuclear explosions on Earth between 1945-1998, using government sources. The illustrator, Isao Hashimoto provided a visual time lapse of each explosion giving viewers a real idea of the Nuclear Age. It is important to note, since the publishing of this video, many countries have entered the Nuclear Powers race, including Australia, South Africa, Israel, North Korea, and Iran. Adding to the number of nuclear explosions and the potential threat of Nuclear exchange for trivial regional disputes, alliances, and war.
Finally, the greatest threat to human civilization is not nuclear technology, but the uses of such enormous power to intimidate, curtail, and indoctrinate the masses with the agenda of the few. It is a shame that such a natural discovery, has behind its power, military sponsors, instead of creative Geniuses, or even commercial organizations, and has yet to yield its greatest advantages for human civilization. The purpose of this article is to educate and not to sway opinion towards feuding ideologies (Democracy vs. Communism) or the national security of sovereign nations. The rise and fall of Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist called "the father of the Atomic Bomb," is a testament in the dubious nature of the uses of nuclear technology, its sponsors, and administration. It is not naivete, nor immature to believe nuclear energy can by used to service human civilization in a manner that catapults our race into a new age of exploration and invention. However, it is not inconceivable, that if it continues to be sponsored by Nationalist States and their Military-Industrialist programs, that nuclear energy will find its greatest discoveries and uses, as a weapon. No one region or regime, has an monopoly on intelligence.
Written by Peter Commons
West Oakland Imports Publishers 2017
PeterLCommons@gmail.com
Sources:
CTBTO Preparatory Commission 2003
The Day After Trinity Documentary (Robert Oppenheimer) 1981
North Korea Fiery Rhetoric Al Jazeera 2017
North Korea Hints Its Developing Advance Nuclear Arsenal NY Times 2017
Latin America Rejects Trump's Military Threat Against Venezuela Reuters 2017
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