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Airdate: Week of August 29, 2010

Part 1: MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION 1

Nine nations possess nuclear weapons; the U.S., Russia, Great Britain, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea with Iran nipping at their heels. President Obama held a Nuclear Security Summit this past April attended by representatives of 47 countries to underline the danger of these weapons falling into the hands of non-state actors such as Al-Qaida. Meanwhile, as we just passed the 65^th Anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, we talk with Susan Southard, who is writing a book on that event as seen through the memories of 5 survivors.

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Part 2: MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION 2

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The end of WWII with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, spun-off 2 super powers, Russia and the U.S. and a whole lot of nuclear paranoia. The U.S. stockpile of nuclear missiles peaked in the 1960s at 30,000 while the U.S.S.R. boasted of having 40,000 warheads in the 80s. The premise that kept this my dad can lick you dad game going was labeled, mutually assured destruction seems totally infantile until you look at photographs of the leveled Japanese cities and the human victims. We return to our discussion with Susan Southard on the stories of the 5 survivors shes writing about.