WITH RECENT DEVELOPMENTS TO THE NUCLEAR PLAYING FIELD, THE U.S.’S $1.7 TRILLION NUCLEAR REBUILD SHOULD CONCERN US ALL

By: Jacob Rabin

November 26, 2024

In February 2023, Russia announced that it would suspend its participation in the New START treaty, the last remaining check on American and Russian nuclear stockpiles. At this point, there have been no negotiations with Russia on a new nuclear arms treaty.

China and the United States lack such a treaty as well, and China halted recent informal negotiations due to the United States continuing to sell arms to Taiwan.

These three countries represent over 92% of the world’s nuclear weapons. Although China’s stockpile lags far behind the United States and Russia, the Defense Intelligence Agency recently published a report stating that China has surpassed earlier growth projections, and by 2030 it is estimated China will have over 1,000 nuclear warheads.

After a brief respite following the Cold War, the threat of nuclear war has skyrocketed. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Doomsday Clock still remains at 90 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been.

The United States government is being forced to respond to these recent developments. The United States is now in the process of a $1.7 trillion nuclear overhaul that is expected to be completed in three decades. The developments include building new nuclear facilities, modernizing aged warheads, developing  bombers, and submarines. Jill Hruby, the Director of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the agency that oversees the country’s nuclear weapons, recently called the plan a “renaissance.”

Not only does the plan have massive implications for the future of nuclear war, but even on the home front, these developments will have significant impacts on the communities in which they occur. Although the United States no longer routinely tests nuclear warheads, the effects of even building these weapons have extensive effects. 

In 1989, the last time that the US produced plutonium “pits,” the facility in Colorado where production occurred was actually shut down by the Environmental Protection Agency for environmental violations. The effects persist to this day, with plutonium found in the air near the plant just this past summer.

Other communities will  either be temporarily or permanently changed as thousands of employees descend on rural towns.

This is worrying. As tensions continue to escalate between Russia and Ukraine,, a war in the Middle East becoming increasingly likely, and nonstop posturing in the South China Sea over Taiwan, it’s not like there aren’t ongoing conflicts involving nuclear powers. One mistake or overreaction could genuinely change the future trajectory of the planet.

The simple truth is that we need to be alarmed. This is a multifaceted issue whose neglect will have impacts on people both now and later. We need to bring more attention to his issue. We need to work together  to build a nuclear-free future where countries, including the United States, aren’t devoting trillions of dollars to technology that could legitimately destroy the world. 

Continued French Ignorance of Indigenous Populations

In May 2024, riots roared across the French Overseas Territory of New Caledonia due to the French government’s implementation of a new voting amendment. The legislation, passed by politicians across the ocean in Paris, allowed for residents who have been on the island for at least 10 years to vote in elections and participate civically. 

However, the Indigenous Kanaks, who make up 41% of the country’s population, have lived through many migration efforts by the French government since the 1960s. These attempts have encouraged French residents to migrate to the territory, actively displacing and lessening the influence that the Kanak have over their native land. 

For decades, tensions have continued rising between the island's pro-independence and loyalist parties. The Kanak have continuously suffered from the neglect of the French government and face numerous socioeconomic challenges, such as unemployment, reliance on subsistence farming, and land dispossession. 

This amendment is seen as just an additional move to disregard and overlook the struggles and needs of the island’s native population. 

Between the 1960s and 1980s, the movement for independence within New Caledonia swept across the country’s political scene, and in 1988, a referendum for independence was accepted: the Nouméa Accord. 

This frustration has now taken a new front. 

Native Kanak peoples seeking the autonomy that was gradually promised in the 1989 Nouméa accord feel that any progress has effectively been walked back through this motion, a step that many see as further reducing the influence they have in their homeland by those who are supposed to represent their needs in their politics.  

Even UN experts have been alarmed by the situation, stating: “The French government has failed to respect the basic rights to participation, consultation and free, prior, informed consent of the Kanak Indigenous Peoples and its institutions, including the Customary Senate.”

Beginning in February 2024, Kanak people have taken to the streets in response to protest this measure. Still, due to a lack of dialogue, violence has started to emerge out of these demonstrations. In response, the military has utilized what many have referred to as excessive force, leading to today with the deaths of 14 Kanaks, over 2000 arrests, and nearly 1 billion euros of damage. A large factory was burnt down in Nouméa, alongside the destruction of other property like businesses and cars. 

On the 16th of May, the French government even banned TikTok on the island, aiming further to reduce the spreading of communication and anti-government sentiment. The app’s restrictions were lifted on the 29th as violence began to lighten up due to a French military operation that targeted those organizing. 

Yet, attacks persist across the country as tensions run high between the natives of the New Caledonian islands and the police and military forces, who just months ago employed any means necessary to suppress their voices and resentment over the poor treatment of their communities within the island’s political sphere. A strong police presence remains in many neighborhoods and urban areas across the country, signaling to the Kanak that those who claim to be interested in their liberation still don’t trust or understand them. 

New Caledonia’s status as an overseas territory, especially in the 21st century, is incredibly unique and repeatedly displays the inadequacy of colonial policies that persist in the modern era. 

Roughly 71 overseas territories exist globally, and while not all have created difficult situations for Indigenous populations’ homelands, New Caledonia exemplifies how governments that are so detached can be wholly inadequate for meeting the needs of the people that they have jurisdiction over. 

As this situation unfolds, the international community will continue to watch how poorly this form of governance can manifest itself upon those it is designed to protect. 

The US-Mexico Border isn't Just a Political Issue, it's a Humanitarian Crisis

By: Priya Buddhavarapu

December 1, 2024

The US-Mexico migrant crisis isn’t just a political issue, but also a major humanitarian crisis. 

As Americans, we tend to boil down the complexity of the border crisis to three major dimensions: border security, illegal immigration, and drugs. However, there is a fourth dimension, a humanitarian dimension, that goes relatively unnoticed by the mass media and governments alike. Migrants are a highly vulnerable demographic, often exposed to extreme cases of danger, exploitation, and abuse. 

There are two aspects of the trans-American odyssey that especially contribute to the significant humanitarian risk that come with illegal immigration. The first is the dangers of the chosen form of passage, and the second is the exploitation of migrants by drug traffickers and powerful cartels.

Each mode of transportation along the migrants’ journey to the United States is accompanied by its unique risks and tribulations, whether it be by foot, boat, bus, or train. For example, a migrant traveling by foot from South America must survive the Darién Gap, a roadless crossing that is “more than sixty miles of dense rain forest, steep mountains, and vast swamps” situated on the border of Panama and Colombia. The Darién Gap is the only overland path connecting Central and South America, making it a key transit point that authorities have led crackdowns on. Through this route, migrants must often pay for a guide, called a “coyote,” to lead them through the jungle, where they are often faced with extreme hunger and thirst, intense anxiety, hopelessness, relentless rainfall, muddy terrain, and drastic temperatures. At the same time, they must evade–and often fall victim to– smugglers, drug cartels, and bands of criminals who often extort and assault migrants. In the first six months of 2023 alone, there were 60 reported deaths, leaving cause to believe that the actual figure was much larger. Not only do these migrants face the physical dangers of their environment, they are also victims of rape, robbery, and human trafficking. 

Assume the migrant has successfully crossed the Darién Gap, one of the most dangerous natural traps of their journey up north, as well as several other Central American countries. Now, they face the last, yet arguably the most treacherous leg: traversing Mexico. They opt for the infamous cargo train lines that run from the Guatemalan border to the north of the country. Colloquially called La Bestia – “The Beast.” —  migrants ride atop these rapidly moving freight trains, seeing that there are no passenger rail cars. Any space is valuable real estate; if they fall or are pushed off, they are subject to injury, amputation, or death. Furthermore, many of these freight lines are controlled by gangs and organized crime groups. Defenseless migrants are often subject to extortion, violence, rape, kidnapping, and robbery. According to one estimate, “eighty percent of passengers are subjected to violence while hundreds have died.” 

The humanitarian perils of their journey does not stop here. Throughout every step, organized crime groups exploit the fragile states of migrants, using blackmail, extortion, and violence to trap them in dangerous, self-serving situations. Many, especially women and children, fall victim to human trafficking and sexual violence, leading to grave circumstances such as unwanted pregnancies, HIVs, sexually transmitted diseases, and mental health issues. And, of course, no matter where migrants are, there is the omnipresent risk of being turned in or discovered by immigration officials threatening deportation or worse. 

The statuses of these migrants must not be diminished to a figure on an immigration report. In fact, this issue should not solely be looked at as a border issue, but as a real, imminent humanitarian crisis that governments across North America are insufficiently acting to prevent. In addressing a solution regarding the border, these governments must not only focus on security, but also on the lives and safety of migrants, who risk everything to seek a better life.