Democrats have warned that a “rogue” leader could someday take control of America’s atomic arsenal
Lawmakers push to limit US president’s nuclear authority
FILE PHOTO: A mushroom cloud rises after a nuclear detonation at a US military test site in Nevada, June 24, 1957 © AP / US Department of Energy
US Democrats in the House and Senate have introduced a bill that would force the White House to seek Congressional approval before ordering a nuclear strike, insisting the president should not have unilateral authority to start a nuclear war.
Introduced by Senator Ed Markey and Representative Ted Lieu on Friday, the ‘Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act’ would prohibit any US president from “launching a nuclear strike without prior authorization from Congress,” as well as reaffirm lawmakers’ war powers under the US Constitution.
“No president has the right or the constitutional authority to unilaterally declare war, let alone launch a nuclear first strike,” Senator Markey said in a statement, while Lieu added that “no one person should have the ability to launch a war that would end life as we know it.”
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Both lawmakers went on to accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of “nuclear threats,” arguing that the risk of nuclear warfare “has never been clearer” amid the conflict raging in Ukraine. Moscow has dismissed such charges, however, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov recently stating that the US and its allies are “prone to hysterical reaction” on the subject of nuclear arms.
In their joint statement, Markey and Lieu also marked the anniversary of the April 15, 1969 shootdown of a US spy plane by North Korean forces over the Sea of Japan, claiming that an “intoxicated President Richard Nixon” ordered a nuclear strike in response. They noted that the order was “disregarded,” but said the incident nonetheless “exposed the dangerous possibility of a rogue US president ordering a nuclear strike without Congressional authorization.”
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While an American reconnaissance craft was shot down by the DPRK in 1969 and the Nixon administration contemplated a nuclear strike in retaliation, there is little evidence to support the claim that the president ordered an attack while drunk.
The two Democrats have introduced similar bills on several occasions in recent years, each seeking to rein in the president’s authority to launch nuclear strikes, but they have failed to pass. Though President Joe Biden vowed on the campaign trail to work toward a policy which would only see Washington use nuclear weapons in response to nuclear attacks, he later backtracked, instead reaffirming a longstanding US policy of using the bomb to deter conventional and other non-nuclear threats.
https://www.rt.com/news/574780-democrats-president-nuclear-powers/
The overthrow of PM Sheikh Hasina in 2024 was funded by USAID and Clinton family money, Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury told RT
The unwillingness of Bangladesh to condemn Russia over the Ukraine conflict was one of the reasons the US wanted to oust Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, former cabinet minister and chief negotiator Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury has said in an interview with RT.
Hasina, who led Bangladesh for 15 years, fled the country in August 2024, following weeks of violent student-led protests which claimed 700 lives, according to some estimates.
Chowdhury, who served as the country’s shipping minister, was at the heart of negotiations between the authorities in Dhaka and demonstrators during the crisis. The country has been led by an interim government since then, which pledged to hold an election in 2026.
Chowdhury told RT in an exclusive interview to be aired on Monday that the uprising was instigated by NGOs linked to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the ...
The fighting in southern Lebanon marks the collapse of a fragile truce – and could redraw the region’s balance of power
On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a series of coordinated strikes on Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon. According to Israeli sources, the strikes targeted weapons depots, command centers, and communication systems used by militants to coordinate their activities along the border area.
Before the operation began, the IDF issued warnings urging residents of several towns to leave areas that could come under fire. The Israeli military emphasized that its actions were aimed solely at military targets but did not rule out the possibility of expanding the operation if provocations from Hezbollah continued.
West Jerusalem accuses Hezbollah of violating ceasefire terms and attempting to rebuild its military capabilities. Just days earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Hezbollah was taking steps to regroup and ...
A recent report has revealed that Paramount Global, an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate, maintains an internal blacklist of entertainment figures it labels “anti-Semitic,” applying the term to any artist who supports Palestine or denounces Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Variety magazine reported on Tuesday that Paramount’s new CEO, David Ellison, has moved to sever ties with all pro-Palestine or anti-Israel movements.
To that end, the company has dismissed executives critical of Israel and refuses to collaborate with any artist or public figure who views the occupying regime’s actions in Gaza as genocidal.
In a statement released on Friday, Paramount said it “disagreed with recent efforts to boycott Israeli filmmakers,” claiming that “silencing individual creative artists does not promote better understanding or advance the cause of peace.”
The statement came after Film Workers for Palestine, supported by over 4,000 international ...
