$10 Trillion for Nuclear War: Racing to the Nuclear Cliff
The Socialist Program with Brian Becker
The Socialist Program
4.7 • 587 Ratings
🗓️ 10 January 2023
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The United States is adding even more money and capacity into its cache of nuclear weapons, the detonation of which would mean tens of millions of people dying. What's behind the estimated $10 trillion in spending on a product that the government will hopefully never use?
Brian is joined by Greg Mello, co-founder and Executive Director of the Los Alamos Study Group.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today we'll talk about nuclear weapons and in particular the Los Alamos Nuclear Lab, which is set for itself a new industrial mission. |
| 0:11.7 | For the first time, it is embarking on the production of nuclear weapon cores. |
| 0:15.7 | At the same time, the U.S. government is committed to an upgrade and modernization of its nuclear weapons arsenal. |
| 0:25.5 | We need a new system. We need a new society. We need to demand that which may have sounded impossible even a few weeks ago, |
| 0:33.8 | but is not only realizable, but an imperative necessity. The Welcome to The Socialist Program. I'm your host, Brian Becker. |
| 1:04.5 | If you enjoy or rely on this show or both, please show your support by subscribing to our show at patreon.com forward slash the |
| 1:13.3 | socialist program. We can't do this show without the support of those who rely and like this show |
| 1:19.8 | and who contribute to the show by becoming subscribers. Go to patreon.com forward slash the socialist program. |
| 1:28.4 | Today we're talking once again with Greg Mello. |
| 1:31.5 | Greg is a co-founder and executive director of the Los Alamos Study Group. |
| 1:36.1 | Greg Mello, welcome back. |
| 1:37.7 | Thanks very much, Frank. Glad to be there. |
| 1:40.1 | Well, it's 2023. |
| 1:42.9 | The Nuclear Not Proliferation Treaty, I believe, was signed in, I think in |
| 1:47.1 | 1969. It committed existing nuclear powers to get rid of their nuclear weapons over time. |
| 1:55.0 | That was the quid pro quo. And in exchange, non-nuclear powers would not seek to acquire nuclear weapons. |
| 2:02.8 | The nuclear powers, and in particular the United States, but not it alone, is not getting |
| 2:08.2 | rid of its nuclear weapons. |
| 2:09.4 | In fact, it's modernizing, upgrading, and seeking to make nuclear weapons more usable. |
| 2:15.7 | Here we are, maybe 60 years after the signing of the |
| 2:19.6 | Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Modernization of nuclear weapons, Greg, it's a violation of the |
| 2:25.6 | Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the letter and the spirit of it. But the Obama administration |
... |
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