Hiroshima.

 

                                                  Image courtesy of Britannica.

     Today marks the 77th. anniversary of the worst crime against humanity in our blood soaked human history. The psychopathic display of imperialist power by the U$A, the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan, Hiroshima, and three days later on Nagasaki. These two events may drift into the fog of history, but are etched in blood and suffering in that human history, unforgettable, unforgivable. The extent of the horror and suffering caused by these two actions is proof the we must not allow any nation state to hold such devastation in its power. We must demand an end to any such weapons existing on this planet, especially now, when those same imperialist powers are discussing the possibility of a nuclear war.

       The extract blow from ICAN, states far more eloquently the horrors of nuclear weapons, than I ever could. No matter how it is said, it must never be forgotten, never forgiven.     

          The two atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of people, and their effects are still being felt today.
            By the end of 1945, the bombing had killed an estimated 140,000 people in Hiroshima, and a further 74,000 in Nagasaki. In the years that followed, many of the survivors would face leukemia, cancer, or other terrible side effects from the radiation.
         The uranium bomb detonated over Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 had an explosive yield equal to 15,000 tonnes of TNT. It razed and burnt around 70 per cent of all buildings and caused an estimated 140,000 deaths by the end of 1945, along with increased rates of cancer and chronic disease among the survivors.
          A slightly larger plutonium bomb exploded over Nagasaki three days later levelled 6.7 sq km. of the city and killed 74,000 people by the end of 1945. Ground temperatures reached 4,000°C and radioactive rain poured down.
  

No response capacity
        If a nuclear weapon were to be detonated over a city today, first responders - hospitals, firemen, aid organisations - would simply be unable to help.
       The reason we know this is that the extent of the damage in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 made it nearly impossible to provide aid. In Hiroshima 90 per cent of physicians and nurses were killed or injured; 42 of 45 hospitals were rendered non-functional; and 70 per cent of victims had combined injuries including, in most cases, severe burns.
       All the dedicated burn beds around the world would be insufficient to care for the survivors of a single nuclear bomb on any city.
       In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, most victims died without any care to ease their suffering. Some of those who entered the cities after the bombings to provide assistance also died from the radiation.

       This powerful video by the Red Cross explains why responding would be impossible.  

Read the full article HERE:

‘Hiroshima Child’

I come and stand at every door
But none can hear my silent tread
I knock and yet remain unseen
For I am dead for I am dead

I’m only seven though I died
In Hiroshima long ago
I’m seven now as I was then
When children die they do not grow

My hair was scorched by swirling flame
My eyes grew dim my eyes grew blind
Death came and turned my bones to dust
And that was scattered by the wind

I need no fruit I need no rice
I need no sweets nor even bread
I ask for nothing for myself
For I am dead for I am dead

All that I need is that for peace
You fight today you fight today
So that the children of this world
Can live and grow and laugh and play

A poem by Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet

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Mr. President.

      Most people seem to accept that Trump is the worst President of the USA ever. That's quite an accolade considering the liars and butchers that have held that post before him. To me the main difference with Trump and the other  figureheads of American imperialism, is the fact that he has a big mouth and doesn't hide his racism and fascist and homophobic views, he openly revels in them.

The following extracts are from Arrezafe:

Monday, April 16, 2018: Peace protesters trying to tear down the Truman statue in Athens

       Two days ago, Greek police forces, on orders from the SYRIZA-ANEL government, brutally attacked anti-war protesters as they tried to topple the statue of US President Harry Truman. This 3.2-meter statue - "a fossil of bloody US imperialism" , as the KKE called it in a statement - has been in the center of the Greek capital since 1963.
      Recent events give us an opportunity to remember who Harry Truman really was. A representative of US imperialism, Truman was the author of the most horrendous war crime of the previous century. We refer to the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

         "Being in possession of a bomb, we have used it ... We will continue to use it until we completely destroy the military power of Japan. Only its surrender will stop us ... We thank God that he has placed it in our hands, and not in the hands. of our enemies, and we pray that He guides us to use it in his path and for his purposes . "

        These gruesome words were spoken on August 9, 1945, by the President of the United States, Truman, during a radio address to the American people. It was three days since the terrorist Enola Gay had dropped the atomic bomb called “Little boy” on Hiroshima and another bomb was sowing death, destruction and chaos in Nagasaki.-------

And:

  ----------Numerous American officials, as well as academics, have exposed Truman's blatant lies. For example, the US Strategic Bombing Survey group, which had been assigned by President Truman himself to study air strikes in Japan, was writing in a report prepared in July 1946:
      "Based on a detailed investigation of all the facts and supported by the testimony of the surviving Japanese leaders involved, it is the opinion of the Study that certainly before December 31, 1945, and in all probability before November 1, 1945, Japan it would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not gone to war and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated . "
       For his part, the then Supreme Commander of all Allied Forces who later became President of the United States, General Dwight Eisenhower, said: "The Japanese were ready to surrender and there was no need to hit them with that hideous thing . " We could cite many testimonies from various officers of the United States Army (Admiral Leahy, General MacArthur, Under Secretary of War McLoy, etc.) that confirm all of the above.
       History has documented the tremendous effects of the nuclear holocaust on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Truman and his administration are responsible for more than 200,000 deaths and hundreds of thousands of radiation-related post-attack casualties.-------

And: 

      "Hero" for the Greek bourgeoisie - "Butcher" for the people.

      The war criminal Harry Truman, who sowed destruction in Japan, is the same butcher who, three years later, ordered the bombing of the heroic guerrillas of the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE) in the mountains of Grammos. It was during the Greek Civil War that the United States intervened to help the Greek bourgeois class against the Democratic Army of Greece . In February 1948, American General James Van Fleet arrived in Athens and became the commander-in-chief of the Greek bourgeois army. 

         In 1949, the Grammos Mountains in northern Greece became the field where the American air force first used Napalm B bombs. In just one battle, in Grammos, the Americans dropped 338 napalm bombs from US positions. DSE. Years later, napalm bombs were used by American assassins in numerous imperialist wars: from Korea to Vietnam and from the 1991 Gulf War to the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.

      Quite a record for a fundamentalist Christian, one of the many who have no problem with mass killings and then asking their god of love and peace to bless their actions. Trump is at home, among a long line of liars, hypocrites and mass murders, who have sat on that throne of savage American imperialism.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk  

Hiroshima State Insanity.

        August 6th. 1945, America drop the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. One bomb an a city and its inhabitants incinerated, all in a few seconds. A war crime of gigantic proportions. Then to compound the crime, three days latter the repeated their horrific deed on another city, Nagasaki.

       Since then they have peddled the lie that nuclear weapons have kept the peace for all these years. A peace that has included Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and hundreds of other wars across the planet. Ask the people of these countries if nuclear weapons have kept the peace. They are weapons that break every piece of international legislation covering combat between nations, they are indiscriminate, weapons of mass destruction against civilian populations.

      Nuclear weapons are a blot on humanity, a reminder that we allow ourselves to be governed and controlled by a bunch of insane psychopaths. There is no rationale for the existence of such weapons, they are the weapons of madmen, and nothing to do with keeping the peace.
This from David Rovics:

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War Is The Crime.

     Yesterday, August 6th. marked the 69th anniversary of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima, killing at least 80,000 people instantly, with tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, dying of various forms of radiation illnesses the following years, 90% of the city was obliterated. A few days later, August 9th. the US dropped a second bomb, a plutonium bomb, on Nagasaki, instantly killing more than 40,000, and again leaving a legacy of radiation diseases for generations. We should add that the estimates of the immediate deaths vary as it is impossible to state accurately, these figures are at the bottom end of the estimates. 

        Targeting civilians is recognised internationally as a war crime, can anyone claim that obliteration an entire city in one fell swoop, is not targeting civilians? After WW2 we hung quite a few for war crimes, unsurprisingly, they were all on the other side.

      The victors write the history, and our history always tells us that what ever we do in war is honourable, and what ever our enemies do is barbaric. The fact that Nagasaki was a mainly civilian city, and ironically, a city with the highest Christian population in Japan, doesn't change that. Just like Israel today, we claimed that we were justified, no matter the cost, it was the honourable road to go.

      The entire history of capitalism, is one of deadly conflicts, with civilian casualties, seen merely as collateral damage. More and more it is the civilian population that suffers in war. Gone are the days when two vast armies faced each other across some waste land, and slaughtered each other until one could claim victory. In modern warfare the casualty rate is normally higher among the civilian population than in the military. Remember "Shock and Awe" visited on the Iraqi people, drones in Pakistan, and Somalia, and now Gaza. 

       This being the case, and targeting civilians being a war crime then it should follow that war itself, by its modern nature is one large war crime, and any state that enters into war is automatically guilty of a war crime.

Photo from Dresden after the Allies bombed the city, creating a fire storm, 1945.

         Wars are states way of cementing their power and wealth, what happens to the people is of little concern, and it will remain so, until we take control of our own lives. Until we decide that we the people should shape the world we want to live in, and base our societies on communities grounded in the fundamentals of mutual aid, co-operation, and seeing to the needs of all our people, we will be at the mercy of the power hungry, war mongering, profit seeking, greed driven capitalist system.  

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk