Author: Oregon PeaceWorks

The “House of Dynamite” sequel you didn’t know you needed

PATRICIA JAWOREK and ISABELLE WILLIAMS – Decision makers and the public must be reminded of what is at stake should scenarios like A House of Dynamite ever occur. Developing a modern, evidence-based understanding of nuclear risks in today’s world can paint a nuanced picture of the negative cascading effects of nuclear use—an especially important development at a time when the world is again inching closer to the brink and younger leaders and citizens are further removed from the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

“The ‘Othered’ genocide: Sudan’s suffering and the world’s indifference

JARED O. BELL – Humanitarian action should never depend on the strategic interests of great powers, yet history shows that it often does. We should have learned this lesson from the Holocaust, Bosnia, and Rwanda, and countless other crises the world ignored because they did not fit political agendas. Silence is complicity, and we have seen where that leads again and again. Sudan is becoming the next horror we will one day mourn, even as it unfolds before our eyes and the world turns away.

Michael Mann to Bill Gates: You can’t reboot the planet if you crash it

MICHAEL MANN – Maybe—just maybe—we’ve learned an important lesson here: The solution to the climate crisis isn’t going to come from the fairy-dust-sprinkled flying unicorns that are the “benevolent plutocrats.” They don’t exist. The solution is going to have to come from everyone else, using every tool at our disposal to push back against an ecocidal agenda driven by plutocrats, polluters, petrostates, propagandists, and too often now, the press.

Facing imminent demolition orders, a West Bank village calls for international support

CASSIDY KLEIN and ASHLEY VER BEEK – As of Oct. 30, residents of Umm al-Khair have lawyers representing their case against the demolition orders, though the lawyers believe it will be difficult to stop the demolitions through legal action alone. The Umm al-Khair village is calling on the international community to pressure the Israeli government through media attention and by urging their representatives to intervene. They also say a larger protective presence of activists would help right now.

Rep. Titus Spearheads Effort to Prevent the Resumption of Nuclear Testing

ALYN WARE – Daryl G. Kimball, director of the nonpartisan Arms Control Association, warns, “The U.S. Congress, at the behest of the American people, led the way in 1991-1992 to halt U.S. nuclear testing and it is critical the Congress rally behind Rep. Dina Titus and Nevadans to block any attempts to resume nuclear explosive testing by the federal government in Nevada, or by any other government anywhere in the world.”

Trump’s Westinghouse Nuclear Fiasco: Wasting Money on a Corrupt Game of Hot Potato

NUCLEAR INFORMATION AND RESOURCE SERVICE (NIRS) – On Tuesday (October 26, 2025) the White House announced an $80 billion deal with Westinghouse to finance construction of eight large new reactors in the U.S. But the promise of a large, direct investment in a pack of new reactors has predictably revved up talk of yet another “Nuclear Renaissance” and made it look like the Donald J.Trump 2.0 administration is making good on big nuclear power goals from a group of executive orders issued in May. 

Stop talking about “protests”

PETER BERGEL – Let’s believe in our own assertion of power and redouble our efforts to demonstrate it, not only by behaving as if we were powerful, but also by claiming a powerful name for one of our mass action tactics. We are not “protesters,” we are “demonstrators,” and we are demonstrating our strength.Let’s believe in our own assertion of power and redouble our efforts to demonstrate it, not only by behaving as if we were powerful, but also by claiming a powerful name for one of our mass action tactics. We are not “protesters,” we are “demonstrators,” and we are demonstrating our strength.

America – the first antifascist nation

BOB TOPPER – The word “fascism” came into common usage in the 1920’s, but America has stood against fascist ideology from its very beginning. When Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776, he launched the world’s first liberal democracy, which assured the rights of the individual. America has always been antifascist. In WWII, over 400,000 American soldiers gave their lives fighting fascism. 

Albert Einstein and the History of the Nuclear Arms Race

LAWRENCE WITTNER – The Russell-Einstein Manifesto, issued in 1955, called on world leaders to renounce war. Einstein died shortly after the release of the manifesto, but its salience continues to this day.The Russell-Einstein Manifesto, issued in 1955, called on world leaders to renounce war. Einstein died shortly after the release of the manifesto, but its salience continues to this day.

NATO Continues to Plan for Nuclear Annihilation

JOHN LA FORGE – NATO’s ceaseless nuclear attack threats are on parade in Europe now, and its ring leaders talk as if they are rational. Gen. Butler, who is one of dozens of retired nuclear war planners that disagree, says, “Deterrence suspended rational thinking in the Nuclear Age.” The commander denounced deterrence, in theory and practice, using words that could still stir desertion or mutiny among the nuclearists: “The likely consequences of nuclear war have no politically, militarily or morally acceptable justification, and therefore the threat to use nuclear weapons is indefensible.”

The Reality of Trump’s Gaza “Peace”

TONY PENTIMALLI – This is what peace looks like in 2025. It is not safety or justice. It is the moment when the noise of war stops long enough for the world to congratulate itself. Trump calls it success. Netanyahu calls it strength. But for the people who live beneath the wreckage, peace is just the brief hour between the funerals and the next warning.

Displacement: An inherent problem of a divided world

DAVID GALLUP – As long as we, the people of the world, allow the nation-state system to maintain the arbitrary and exclusive borders that divide humans from one another, immigration will continue to be viewed as a problem rather than as an educational, economic, political, and social opportunity. When we respect each other, our rights and duties, as world citizens, the entire earth will be a sanctuary of peace and safety for all.

Ratcheting Up the Race to Armageddon

ALICE SLATER – The recent report from the Stockholm International Peace Institute (SIPRI), despite its assertion that “understanding the conditions for peaceful solutions to international conflicts is a key part of their work”, has just issued alarming news that there is a “clear trend of growing nuclear arsenals, sharpened nuclear rhetoric and the abandonment of arms controls agreements!”

Are we fighting the wrong battle, Mr. Secretary of War?

WINSLOW MYERS – In contrast to the Hegseth/Trump/establishment vision which leads to mass death, imagine the militaries of the world gradually redirecting their resources, prowess, and logistical efficiency toward addressing the regeneration of Earth’s biosystems. It would be a very different conception of military strength—because authentic strength that leads to real security for all from now forward will be whatever contributes to the health of the whole planetary organism. We’re all in a leaky boat together, including the military.

ICE, a Standing Army Inside America, Defies the Genius and History of America, the Constitution, and Bill of Rights

KARY LOVE – Patrick Henry warned, prophetically, that standing armies would be turned on the people. History is resonating. Are we not Americans? Are we not bound to resist, pledging our lives and our sacred honor to preserve the Republic won by generations refusing to acquiesce to such tyranny? Are we not duty bound to proclaim when asked “where is Spartacus” to say: “I am Spartacus!” I am Patrick Henry! You are an American, you are “we the people” of the Constitution, your country needs you, and you can stand with Patrick Henry and the Constitution.

A.I. and I-Thou

ANDREW MOSS – We are social beings, and by asking us to reexamine our humanity, A.I. is calling on us to reexamine our social relations in all aspects, from the personal to the political. There are ways, too, of curbing the most malign aspects of A.I. In considering the current state of our society, individuals must consider what’s most important to them in making better lives for themselves, their families, and their communities.

AG Rayfield Sues to Stop Federal Cuts That Threaten State Energy Programs

JENNY HANSSON – Attorney General Dan Rayfield and 18 other states, plus the District of Columbia, sued to block the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) from imposing a new funding cap that slashes support for vital state-run energy programs. The DOE policy would prevent states from using critical federal funds by limiting reimbursement for key administrative and staffing costs that have long been covered by these federal energy programs.

Dementia, Depression, and the Nuclear Button: The Shocking Reality of Mental Decline in Command

UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO – A startling new study reveals that many world leaders with access to nuclear weapons were suffering from serious health issues—including dementia, depression, strokes, and addiction—while still in power. Some were comatose, others deeply impaired, and in multiple cases, their conditions were deliberately concealed from the public.