Neal Resnikoff is a long-time Chicago peace activist and spoke on behalf of the Chicago Antiwar Coalition.
The U.S. government is continuing its imperialist war against Russia. It is doing so with the President heavily using the power of that position, as other presidents before him have done.
The U.S. government is continuing to use Ukraine as its proxy and NATO as a conduit for arms to fight the Russian military self-defense forces, Trump has ordered U.S. nuclear submarines off the coast of Russia.
The U.S. government also has continued its policy of being willing to use nuclear weapons it has in bases in Europe and elsewhere on a first-strike basis.
The Russian government, realizing the current threats, has now declared it is removing its self- imposed restraint on deploying mid-range missiles.
The situation is extremely dangerous, with increased threat of nuclear war, but there has not been big attention and debate about this.
Meanwhile, the U.S. government is complicit in the horrendous genocidal massacre of over 60,000 Palestinians so far.
This all comes in the wake 80 years ago today of the U.S. government atomic bombing of Nagasaki in Japan. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima was August 6, 1945.
These were U.S. government war crimes that killed hundreds of thousands of civilians and injured hundreds of thousands more.
Since then the U.S. capitalist ruling class, using Democrats and Republicans, has illegally and unjustly killed millions more in other countries around the world, using other kinds of weapons, though including depleted uranium weapons.
The U.S. government actions have all been to suppress opposition or to beat back competition for raw materials, labor power, and markets from other countries. The aim is to ensure maximum profits for the big U.S. banks and big corporations. These ruthless acts of U.S. imperialism are usually covered over by some noble sounding justifications.
Noble sounding justification was true in in the U.S. government atomic bomb massacres in1945, and there is still promotion of the U.S. government lie that this was a move to save the lives of American troops by bringing a quick end to the war against Japan. For example, Trump said on June 25 at the NATO Summit that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki “ended that war.” President Obama said in a speech in Hiroshima in 2016 that “World War Two reached its end with Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”
These are lies that have been exposed as lies. For example, General Curtis LeMay said two weeks after the end of war, “The atomic bomb had nothing to do with the end of the war. The war would have ended in two weeks without the atomic bomb.” Admiral William Leahy, who was President Truman’s Chief of Staff said “The use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender.”
U.S. Secretary of State James Byrne said at the time: “If we could end the war before the Red Army got to Manchuria and then Japan, we could dominate the situation in Japan and probably Manchuria.” Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson also exposed the aim of the atomic bombing: “It [the atom bomb] was the master card … over the Russians.
The atomic bombing happened after it was already clear to the U.S. government that the Japanese government was ready to surrender in World War II. This was known because the U.S. had broken the Japanese codes, and the Japanese were negotiating surrender with the Soviet Union.
The dropping of the atomic bombs had the pernicious aim of trying to frighten others in Asia and open the door for U.S. imperialism to dominate Asia and the world.
We have the responsibility to take out the lessons of this ruthless killing to as many people as we can, because today the U.S. government is still massacring people, directly and indirectly—such as through the war in Ukraine that the U.S. instigated by provoking Russia into military action. And it is threatening nuclear war against Russia, and others.
The U.S. has been provoking China by interfering in Taiwan, long part of China, with arms sales, training of military personnel, adding U.S. naval presence in the area, and encouraging steps within Taiwan toward independence from China. China has been opposing this with various statements and exercises preparing for a possible military invasion of Taiwan. President Biden declared the U.S. government would defend Taiwan militarily if China invaded, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirmed that U.S. government policy remains one of opposition to forced changes in Taiwan’s status.
The U.S. government is still the world’s greatest perpetrator of nuclear proliferation, and threatening its use.
The solution to the rampages of U.S. imperialism is the complete dismantling of the U.S. imperialist war machine and its nuclear terror apparatus.
How about if we take up these slogans:
No More Hiroshimas and Nagasakis!
No to the Use of Force to Settle Conflicts between Nations!
Dismantle NATO!
All Out to Organize an Anti-War Government!