We are closer to nuclear catastrophe than ever

To my knowledge since the end of WWII the world has came close to nuclear war and consequently the end of almost all life on the planet on several occasions. On at least two occurrences this was due to mistaken warning signals received by early warning detection systems which were recognised just in time. On three occasions we know of the move to the highest state of nuclear alert happened deliberately. Most well known was over the Cuban missiles crisis. US President Kennedy took the world to the brink to the extent that people all over the world went to sleep on the night of 27 October 1962 not knowing if they would ever wake up again.

At two other times there was similar threat - during the 1973 Arab - Israeli war and in 1983 when the Warsaw Pact feared a NATO war game was real and the prelude to an all out attack. In these latter two cases as with the accidental scenarios we found out only much later how close we came to oblivion.

Just this past week the Starmer led UK government threatened Russia with giving Ukraine Storm Shadow missiles that could target and hit major Russian cities like the capital Moscow and St. Petersburg. These missiles can only be programmed, operated and targeted with NATO personnel and US/NATO satellite systems. Russian President Putin made clear in a statement that there would be a serious response by Russia. Information is coming into the public domain that this response would have meant direct targeting of sites in Britain that produce these missiles. The escalation from this to all out nuclear war would have been rapid.

It appears now that despite on going bellicose rhetoric emanating from the likes of Starmer and Lammy that saner voices - probably in the US - have prevailed and that the warmongering proposal to send such threatening weaponry to the reactionary regime in Ukraine has been withdrawn.

We should be thankful for that if true.

The issue remains however that this war must end. There need to be serious peace negotiations that recognise the legitimate concerns of Russia. The Minsk Accords have gone thanks to western meddling and with them the best chance Ukraine had for maintaining its post-1991 borders. But peace is the imperative, an end to the killing and an end to the threat of world wide war.

James McDaid,

Leaders, Socialist Labour Party. 18/9/2024