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The New START treaty expired—Ploughshares grantees are taking action
Today, New START—the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and Russia—formally expired. For the first time in decades, there are no legally binding limits on the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals. At a moment of heightened global tension, the loss of this treaty makes the world even more dangerous. But just…
Read More‘Chess: The Musical’’s Revival is in the Shadow of New START Expiration
A story of two chess grandmasters, a love triangle with a Hungarian refugee, CIA and KGB tactics, and a climax set against the backdrop of Able Archer 83—narrative elements that would seemingly point to a cut-and-dry tragedy. But pair them with operettic pop music written by ABBA, and the result is a bonafide Cold War…
Read MoreCommemorating the 1966 Palomares Accident
Sixty years ago today in the skies over Spain, a US Air Force B-52 bomber on a nuclear alert mission collided with an aerial tanker causing the deaths of seven airmen. The bomber was carrying four B28 thermonuclear bombs. One fell into the sea and the remaining three bombs landed near the small town of…
Read MoreFallout Season 2, A Primer: What the Show Gets Right About Nuclear War—and Why It Matters
Amazon’s Fallout returns December 16, dropping us back into a world shaped entirely by nuclear catastrophe. The series may be darkly funny and wildly stylized, but at its core, it’s about something very real: what happens when nuclear weapons are used, what survives—and what doesn’t. Whether you’re new to the show or returning for Season…
Read MoreAtomic Alchemy Issue #4: “Freedom is the Horizon:” On the Infinite Possibilities of Nuclear Weapons Abolition
In the final issue of the Atomic Alchemy zine series, Jasmine Owens explores the explores the “infinite possibilities of nuclear weapons abolition” and fostering courage in the face of discrimination and violence. Atomic Alchemy Zine #4:“Freedom is the Horizon:” On the Infinite Possibilities of Nuclear Weapons Abolition
Read MoreTrump’s Nuclear Testing Threat: What Does it Mean?
Last week, on October 29, President Donald Trump announced via a late night post on his social media site Truth Social that the U.S. would “start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis [with other nations].” The post caused alarm among advocates and policymakers as experts quickly weighed in to read the tea leaves…
Read MoreNetflix and Not-So-Chill: Preparing to Watch ‘A House of Dynamite’
On October 24, 2025, Kathryn Bigelow’s new film, A House of Dynamite, releases on Netflix. The premiere follows a limited run in theaters, which rallied the nuclear threat reduction together to engage in the somewhat lost—but not totally forsaken—art of watching movies in community. I first watched A House of Dynamite at a sold-out theater…
Read MoreWhat happens when we go to war with ourselves?
What happens when we go to war with ourselves? We fight our brothers and our cousins and our mothers, our children, our friends, colleagues and mentors. What happens when we start to tear at the seams, breaking apart the bonds of trust and objective truth? We tear open all that is dear to us, and…
Read MoreInterview: “My Dad Moved the Mormon Church on Nukes”
This interview was conducted by Taylor Barnes for Inkstick Media—a Ploughshares grantee. A few years ago, I came across what folks in Utah call “the MX battle,” and ever since, I can’t unsee it. The reason I keep coming back to it is not just because it’s a rare success story in the peace…
Read MoreAtomic Alchemy Issue #3: Prepare, For We Are In a Battle Over Building Dreams of a Better Tomorrow
In the penultimate issue of the Atomic Alchemy zine series, Jasmine Owens explores the weaponization of our fear as fuel for nuclear necropolitical status quo, and the power of radical imagination in the struggle for liberation. Atomic Alchemy Zine #3: “Prepare, For We Are In a Battle Over Building Dreams of a Better Tomorrow”
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