Dear Editor
At the peak of the Cuban missile crisis our day darkened into a night of fear. My father and mother were strangely subdued, fixedly watching the TV. This was the only time that such chilling silence filled our family home. I remember that dread to this day and remember too the relief on waking next morning to peace. We knew that we had faced annihilation, but did not know that we had missed it by mere chance.
I joined the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament shortly afterwards. Although the situation today as Russia continues its barbarous and criminal invasion of Ukraine, is different in many ways, there are some worrying similarities. Firstly, there is a fog of propaganda from both sides which means that once again we do not know what is actually going on. It took several decades for the full facts of the Cuban crisis to emerge. Secondly, both sides seem to regard the nuclear threat as a test of nerve. Both Russia and NATO have a nuclear first-use policy and both sides are determined not to be intimidated by the nuclear threat from the enemy. Putin noisily brandishes his mighty nuclear force while NATO quietly prepares for a possible nuclear conflict (preferably in Europe). The imminent arrival of tactical nuclear weapons at Lakenheath is one sign of these preparations; more worrying is the noticeable increase in activity at the UK’s strategic Trident weapons base at Faslane. In the Cuban crisis, a resolution was found by quiet concessions on both sides. Both sides saved face and nuclear catastrophe was very narrowly avoided. To achieve peace in Ukraine both sides will have to make painful concessions and one hopes that there are clear-sighted and hard-headed people on both sides capable of achieving the diplomatic solution.
However in the meantime the longer the conflict continues the greater is the probability of nuclear war. We at CND do not have any magic formula to end the conflict but are strongly motivated by the fear of escalation. We do not advocate rewarding Putin for his barbarous aggression or abandoning Ukraine to its fate but we will continue to campaign, as we have done for sixty years, against the possession and use of nuclear weapons and, whenever and wherever possible, for peace.
Anyone interested in the arguments against nuclear weapons and for peace has the opportunity to hear (and question) Angie Zelter, veteran activist and founder member of Trident Ploughshares and the International Women’s Peace Service, and Dr Rowland Dye, the nuclear physicist, and discuss Why anti-nuclear campaigning is vital NOW!!! at The Friends Meeting House, Fisher Street, Carlisle CA3 8RR from 7.30pm on Wednesday 8 June. For more details contact Irene Sanderson, North Cumbria CND : Telephone: 01768 897071 / Mobile: 07720 842529) / E-mail: irene@irenesanderson.co.uk.
Meanwhile I would urge your readers to be aware that we are very close to a nuclear war and the claim that it’s all Putin’s fault, however convincing this may be, will be scant comfort if this occurs.
Yours etc
Don Sanderson
North Cumbria CND