FLASHPOINTS

Today on FLASHPOINTS – a special program – part of Pacifica’s all-day exploration of the nuclear issue. Kenzaburo Oe, a Japanese writer recently writing in the Asahi Shimbun,  describes how, after World War Two,  the Japanese Constitution included three nuclear principles – that JAPAN would not possess – manufacture – or introduce nuclear weapons into Japan.

But today Japan has reconstituted its military,  and secret agreements with the U.S. now permit storage of nuclear weapons on Japanese soil. So today Japan claims to be a pacifist nation but stores American nuclear weapons on its soil and at the same time,  seeks shelter under the American nuclear umbrella.

On today’s FLASHPOINTS, a special archive documentary exploring the dropping of the first two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 – HIROSHIMA COUNTDOWN WITH STUDS TERKEL produced by  ANDREW LESLIE PHILLIPS. We bring you this special program today as we explore and try to better understand the dangers in our nuclear world.

LISTEN ONLINE:[podcast]http://aud1.kpfa.org/data/20110405-Tue1700.mp3[/podcast]
Download this clip
Play this clip in your Computer’s media player