Resistance is growing to the nuclear weapons industry
Countries can be forced to divest by pressure from their citizens
For years, reports Jon Schwarz in the Intercept_, the Dutch organization PAX has been issuing reports detailing the Armageddon that’s hiding in plain sight. The business of nuclear weapons — and it is in fact a business — does not for the most part take place in secret underground lairs. It is all around us, conducted by corporations and banks that might otherwise make cellphones or cornflakes or autonomous vacuum cleaners.
PAX’s newest paper, “Perilous Profiteering,” should be front-page news around the world. Why it is not is an interesting question.
Nuclear war is still a threat to humanity. It’s true that it’s generally vanished from popular culture and our imagination since the end of the Cold War 30 years ago. What almost no one knows, however, is that many serious observers believe that the actual danger of nuclear conflict is now greater than at any point in history.
PAX explains that 25 companies around the world are particularly involved in the production, manufacture, and development of nuclear weapons. America’s Northrop Grumman makes the most money off nukes, with at least $24 billion in current nuclear contracts. Other U.S. firms such as Raytheon Technologies and Lockheed Martin are close behind. But it is a worldwide industry, with companies in Europe (Airbus), India (Larsen & Toubro), Russia (Rostec), and China (China Aerospace Science and Technology) profiting from the potential end of the world.
Most of Canada's top financial institutions, including major banks such as CIBC, BMO Financial Group, Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank, Scotiabank and others appear throughout the report.
But countries can be forced by pressure from their citizens to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and cut ties with the nuclear industry, argues the report's principal author, Susi Snyder. “These profiteers can and do change their behaviors. A combination of the emerging norm against nuclear weapons, the growing strength and membership of the TPNW, and the increasing stigma against weapons designed for mass destruction are leading companies away from harmful contracts and investors to consider alternatives,” she writes.
(Cover: B2 Stealth Bomber in a Hanger via Shutterstock)