As we despair about Gaza, Venezuela, and many other disasters caused by human beings, an even more sinister threat looms over us: The Golden Dome.

In spite of its shiny name, the Golden Dome threatens both those its supposed to protect - the people in the US, and those in the countries from which the US pretends to defend itself - the people in Russia and China, as well as the people in the other nuclear club countries that are the US enemies, like North Korea. In addition, due to the nature of nuclear weapons, all of us are threatened.

The Golden Globeintends to protectfrom both conventional and nuclear weapons. Itcontains sensors and interceptors, some on satellitesand its job is to detect and destroy enemy missiles. Its likely thatthousands of satellites will be needed, and the cost of the program,initially estimated to be $ 175 billion, may reach trillions.

We know what it means: Less money for the climate crisis, and for healthcare, education, housing, food. It is also interesting tonote that the US debtis $38 trillion.

In addition, its likely that the Golden Dome wont work.

According to Frederik Lamb and Laura Grego, the system has trouble discriminating warheads from decoys.

According to Najam Ul Hassan, the system is easy to defeat.

Sara Jones mentionsthat the orbiting debris left in space would make some orbits dangerous. Actually, it is estimated that nearly 130 million debris from abandoned satellites and other man-made sources orbit the earth. One of them cracked the window of a Chinese spacecraft.

In addition, space, like the earth, is an environment to protect.Space launches damage the ozone layer.

However, cost and technical problems are not the worst part. The worst part is the effect that the Golden Dome will have on US enemies. It mayturn out to be an offensive program, allowing the US to use a first strike attack, confident that it will be able to defend itself. However, it is likely thatit wont be able to defend itself.Robert Zubrin explains that the enemy, by creating a nuclear explosion in space, will be able to disable Golden Dome satellites.

Countries like China and Russia are not going to wait patiently to be attacked by the US.They are developing new weapons.The escalation will continue.

Fortunately, we have a tool against nuclear weapons:The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the TPNW.We also have people to use this tool: Us, the civil society, with the help of the countries that have ratified it. We have to act, and act fast:The last remaining bilateral treatyconstraining Russian and U.S. Forces, the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) expires on February 5, 2026. For now, we should at least say Stop these nuclear follies. We dont want to die; we dont want to see our forests and our fields disappear.

Then we can ask our cities to endorse the TPNW using theICAN cities appeal.

AsLiu Chong and Xie Hao state: The world does not belong solely to America; it is the shared home of all humanity.

And asAmit Ray declares: Earth is the playground of our children and their children.

Readers wanting more information on the Golden Dome will enjoy this video of a webinar sponsored by the Massachusetts Peace Action Nuclear Disarmament Working Group, Peace Action Maine, New Hampshire Peace Action, and New Jersey Peace Action.

Note: Dont let yourself get intimidated by the math and physics of the presentation. Look at the slides that summarize the findings.

Petition to Congress:Stop Trumps Golden Dome.

Evelyn Tischer