February 17, 2026

Friends -- 

Apologies for the late notice, but we've been going fast here and the overall situation, including our own tactical situation, often changes week to week and sometimes day to day, partly in ways we cannot control. 

The "movie nights" with discussions (two so far) have been going OK -- but only OK. There's a lot going on for all of us. What we have found that there is an enormous appetite for discussion in the community, and even excellent movies take up too much of the precious discussion and conversational time we have when people come together. 

We need to have those discussions -- especially for those of us working on war and peace, nuclear colonialism, arms control and disarmament, and nuclear safety and related environmental concerns. 

The present situation is unprecedented. Also and related, new threats to New Mexico are upon us, which some of you are thankfully working on more than we can. 

So tomorrow we would like to invite those who live reasonably near by, have time, and are interested over to our office and home to discuss 

a) the dramatic recent developments in nuclear weapons plans and policies now under way, 
b) New Mexico's role, and 
c) what can be done. 

We will meet at 6:00 pm at our offices (2901 Summit Place NE, Albuquerque). Please write Trish to RSVP if you want to come. We can seat about 20 people. This event is open to everyone. 

By way of background, here is the double-page advertisement that will appear tomorrow in the Santa Fe Reporter:  Not Satire: "Peace through Atomic Strength" is the nuclear mission now, Allowable radiation exposure at LANL increased 5x to speed plutonium “pit” production for new warheads; no more treaty constraints on nuclear forces,

As you may by now know, Secretary Rubio's recent speech at the Munich Security Conference laid bare some of the true lineaments of U.S. foreign policy, of which nuclear weapons policy is a subset. Please see our Ukraine War page for text, references, and our informal comments. As we wrote there yesterday, 

While not strictly about Ukraine, these comments from our Secretary of State AND National Security Adviser Marco Rubio really lay the cards on the table. I am tempted to say all the cards, but we can be sure there are many more. (Yesterday Simplicius zeroed in on the same thing.) I never imagined I would see anything like this in my lifetime. It was unthinkable. As foreign policy, this dog won't hunt, but a lot of people may die because of it. When has anyone of this rank openly talked like this in the U.S.? Since the Spanish-American War perhaps? This needs to be widely discussed, where it will widely appall. There is a need for internal colonies as well, to enable this fantasy. Places where administrative expedience reigns, not human development.

And the day before:

I think Trump was always going to have world domination as his goal. The peace-oriented, avoiding-foreign-wars stance was a ruse. Alternatively or complementarily, Trump has been "turned" by not just Adelson and Netanyahu but the larger Deep State, which has had energy dominance on its mind since the beginning of the Age of Oil. Oil was and is necessary for naval power, because oil-fired ships go faster than coal-fired ones, etc. Anglo-American domination and in fact European domination too is inherently naval-oriented because of geography, as recognized for centuries now, hence access to oil and potential denial of oil to others has always been among its very highest goals. Oil is not abundant. The world has used at least half its oily geologic patrimony. What's left is harder to get, which means more energy must be expended in getting it. We are already past the point where our waste-riddled economy can grow under these oil-related conditions, except in nominal (fictional) terms. Hence the Biden and now Trump push for nuclear power, the outcome of which remains to be seen. Right now, the tech lords are claiming all the new energy and more for their AI bid to control the world.

The nuclear weapons situation under Trump, now that his people have been confirmed by the (very hawkish, industry- and Deep State-controlled) Senate is accordingly dire as well. The changing situation at Los Alamos and Sandia discussed in that ad is part and parcel of that. 

In solidarity, 

Greg