Letters to the Editor by Two Bellingham Members
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Below are letters from Bellingham residents Barbara Sardarov and Cindy Cole. Both are concerned about military spending, nuclear weapons, and human needs.
Letter ran the week of April 29, 2026 on nuclear weapons: https://www.cascadiadaily.com/2026/apr/28/letters-week-of-april-29-2026-landback-rights-in-comp-plan-jail-management-and-mylar-balloons/
Rant: The U.S. and Russia have 90% of the world’s nuclear weapon inventory: USA 5,044; Russia 5,500.
The other seven nuclear-armed countries have 1,731 (UK, France, China, India, Israel, Pakistan, North Korea). Rave: Fifty years ago, the world inventory had over 50,000 nuclear weapons. International cooperation got the tally down to the current 12,231 stockpile. Ah, for the good old days.
Rant: The U.S. and Russia have 90% of the world’s nuclear weapon inventory: USA 5,044; Russia 5,500.
The other seven nuclear-armed countries have 1,731 (UK, France, China, India, Israel, Pakistan, North Korea). Rave: Fifty years ago, the world inventory had over 50,000 nuclear weapons. International cooperation got the tally down to the current 12,231 stockpile. Ah, for the good old days.
Rant: Trump plans to spend over $1.7 trillion in the next 10 years on nuclear weapons. Rave: Democrats, MAGA and independents are speaking back. Thank our two Sens. Maria Cantwell, Patty Murray and Rep. Rick Larsen for their questions and work. Keep the pressure on.
Rant: The U.S. president has the sole, unchecked authority over the decision to launch a nuclear weapon, without needing to consult anyone else. Rave: Searching for a rave.
Rant: All nine nuclear-armed nations refuse to call for the abolition of nuclear weapons and will not sign on the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Rave: Over 95 other countries have signed to support this treaty.
Rant: Hundreds of nuclear weapons in our arsenal are constantly kept on hair-trigger alert. Rave: See the entry above where our president has sole power to launch weapons. Once launched, they cannot be called back or re-targeted. The rave is that we can speak out.
Rant: Investors in Boeing, Lockheed, and General Dynamics stock stand to make a ton of money. Can’t find a rave.
Let’s remember the true victims of past nuclear war/accidents: residents and descendants of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chernobyl.
Bet they would support our speaking out.
Barbara Sardarov
Bellingham
Letters to the Editor, Cascadia Daily News, week of April 15, 2026
Editor,
More than half of our federal taxes go to the military, which, by the way, has never passed an audit. A $1.5 trillion military base budget for October 2026–27 is an unprecedented handout to tech oligarchs and war profiteers. In addition, Congress is being asked to fund a supplemental $200 billion for the war in Iran.
The Trump administration is siphoning historic amounts of wealth away from everyday families. The president himself admitted this past week that we can’t afford basic investments like day care or Medicare. In addition, Trump is asking for $53.9 billion for the Department of Energy in FY 2027; $32.8 billion is for the semi-autonomous nuclear weapons agency, the National Nuclear Security Administration. The proposal includes plutonium “pit” bomb core production to the tune of $4.9 billion. Plutonium pits are the essential “triggers” for modern nuclear weapons. The U.S. is now in a race to build up the nuclear arsenal.
Somehow, we need to convey to our government that these expenditures will not keep us safer. Our taxes need to help with basic needs, not enrich a few.
Cindy Cole
Bellingham