2020: Consortium News on Atomic Bombings of Japan
Hiroshima & Nagasaki 2020 - 75 Jahre danach
Consortium News publizierte mehrere Artikel
zu Hiroshima und Nagasaki vor 75 Jahren.
Our Series on the Atomic Bomb
August 10, 2020
Merken
There were two reasons why Consortium News devoted so much space to the commemoration of the atomic bombings of Japan.
Over the past week, Consortium News published 15 articles related to the 75th Anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Some readers might think we overdid it.
But there are two reasons why we thought the expansive coverage was warranted.
The first is that the only use so far of nuclear weapons was one of the most momentous moments in history. In Biblical terms, it is equivalent to the Flood. In historic terms, it can be compared with the collapse of the Roman Empire, though that took centuries, while the bombings took just seconds.
It was momentous, because like the Flood and the fall of Rome, the bombings ushered in a new historical era. In ways so much larger than the 9/11 attacks, Hiroshima and Nagasaki really did change everything. It spawned the Nuclear Age, under which we have been living since, living with the threat of global annihilation haunting us.
The second reason is that even 75 years later, the myths concocted by the U.S. government about the reasons for dropping the bombs on civilian populations are still persistently believed by many Americans. A common theme throughout the series, beginning with the video press conferences of the leading historians on the issue, was to factually debunk the disinformation that the atomic bombings were necessary to end the war with Japan, save American lives and even that innocent Japanese civilians “deserved it.”
Seven of the eight five-star American generals at the time, including Dwight Eisenhower and Douglas MacArthur, thought the bombings were completely unnecessary and immoral. We believe it is high time that everyone else does too.
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By Francis Boyle
My Father Was to Invade Japan; He Did Not Feel Saved By the Bomb
U.S. Marine Francis Anthony Boyle was poised to join the invasion of Japan but was sent to a devastated Nagasaki instead. What he never told his son might surprise you.
The Illegality of Nuclear Weapons
The mere possession of nuclear weapons violates the Nuremberg Principles (decreed a day before Nagasaki) and other international laws, argues international law professor Francis Boyle.
By James DiEugenio
‘How Israel Stole the Bomb’
When Israel launched a covert scheme to steal material and secrets to build a nuclear bomb, U.S. officials looked the other way and obstructed investigations, as described in a book reviewed by James DiEugenio.
By Amy Goodman and David Goodman
Hiroshima Cover-up — How Timesman Won a Pulitzer While on War Dept. Payroll
The NYT reversed itself to the official narrative of categorically dismissing reports of deadly effects of radiation in articles by a Times correspondent who was being paid by the government, report Amy and David Goodman.
By Nozomi Hayase
From Hiroshima to Collateral Murder
During this week’s commemoration of the attacks on Japan, Nozomi Hayase spotlights the courage of two journalists — Wilfred Burchett and Julian Assange — who sacrificed their own freedom to expose war crimes.
War Crimes, Empire and the Prosecution of the Free Press
By Gary G. Kohls
Hiroshima and the Backlash Against Historical Truth
On the 50th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1995 historians at the Smithsonian tried to present a truthful accounting of that U.S. decision-making but were stopped by right-wing politicians who insist on maintaining comforting myths, recalls Gary G. Kohls.
The Darkness of August 9
During WWII, Aug. 9 saw barbarities inflicted on innocents, from gassing a Jewish Carmelite nun to beheading a German Christian war protester to the incineration of Japan’s most Christian city, Gary Kohls writes.
The Very Un-Christian Nagasaki Bomb
An all-Christian American crew used the steeple of Japan’s most prominent Christian church as the target for an act of unspeakable barbarism, writes Gary G. Kohls.
What Imperial Japan Couldn’t Do in 250 Years American Christians Did in Nine Seconds
By Peter Kuznick
Truman’s ‘Human Sacrifice’ to Subdue Moscow
In this introduction to the memoir of a Nagasaki bombing victim, historian Peter Kuznick shows why the bombs were dropped and how some victims’ anger propelled the Japanese anti-nuclear movement.
By John LaForge
The Enduring Myth of Hiroshima & Nagasaki
After the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki On Aug. 6 and Aug. 9, 1945, there then ensued a U.S. propaganda campaign to claim the slaughter of more than 200,000 people saved lives, writes John LaForge.
By Joe Lauria
How US Spies Secured the Uranium for Hiroshima
A dark secret behind the Hiroshima bomb is where the uranium came from, a spy-vs.-spy race to secure naturally enriched uranium from Congo to fuel the Manhattan Project and keep the rare mineral out of Nazi hands, reports Joe Lauria.
When Time Stopped in Hiroshima—and When it Was Stolen
The first atomic bomb burst at 8:15 a.m. over the city of Hiroshima leaving its impression on a watch that disappeared 44 years later, reports Joe Lauria.
By John Pilger
Another Hiroshima is Coming — Unless We Stop It Now
Hiroshima and Nagasaki were acts of premeditated mass murder unleashing a weapon of intrinsic criminality. It was justified by lies that form the bedrock of 21st century U.S. war propaganda, casting a new enemy, and target – China.
By Scott Ritter
The Decision to Drop the Bomb on Japan and the Genesis of the Cold War
The head of the Manhattan Project said, “The purpose of the whole project was to subdue the Russians,” writes Scott Ritter in this excerpt from his book Scorpion King.