August 1, 2023

Pit presentation slides; more on Hiroshima/Nagasaki/Russia; Patrick Lawrence on the Bidens and the opportunity at hand; LANL seeks to expand into other cities

Previous letter (07/31/2023): Video of July 22 event; crisis in the presidency; no "peace festival" for us, thank you
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Friends, good afternoon.

First, yesterday the link to our plutonium pit production slide presentation on 7/22 wasn't live. Oops -- here it is. I did not show the last couple of slides at the meeting. Some of the issues may be new to many people and organizations active on nuclear weapons issues, who are unfamiliar with LANL's intractable geography and logistics.

Second, one of our advisors sent a link to a fine interview with Peter Kuznick by Paul Jay, covering much the same material as Peter covered at our meeting, but with more detail and with some good historical photos included as well as some illustrative movie scenes (he had a whole hour this time). The entire program is excellent; Peter's comments zero in on the role of U.S. postwar ambitions in the use of the atomic bombs at roughly 30 minutes into the program.

Third, after sending yesterday's letter we saw this Patrick Lawrence piece, also published yesterday, "The Bidens’ Burisma Bribery" (Consortium News, Jul 31, 2023). As Lawrence says, he was initially wary of accepting the magnitude of what is now in the public record, in FBI documents, bank records, and Joe Biden's own statement in public (about getting the Ukrainian prosecutor fired who was investigating Burisma).

At the Study Group, we began to raise the Burisma issue back in 2014, because of the web of links between Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales, Hunter Biden, Devon Archer, Ukrainian oligarch and neo-Nazi supporter Ihor Kolomoysky (who became Zelensky's main patron), John Kerry's son-in-law Christopher Heinz (founding partner of Rosemont Capitol), and others. A subsidiary of Rosemont Capital, Rosemont Realty LLC, (which employed Javier Gonzales) was for a time the largest owner of commercial real estate in New Mexico. In the run-up to the 2014 Ukraine coup, even former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson was involved, as were the Clintons. All this is old news, not worth detailing now.

What is not irrelevant is the recent testimony of a trusted long-time confidential FBI source that the Zelensky regime has abundant kompromat on Joe Biden. So do a lot of people, at this point -- people like Victoria Nuland (as of three days ago, promoted to Acting Deputy Secretary of State). It would be the height of naivete to think that Biden family influence-peddling has nothing to do with decisionmaking in this administration.

It will be difficult for the administration to contain this scandal. In addition to being a powerful "good government" issue, it could be a terrific opportunity for the anti-war movement. Think about it, then decide.

Fourth, for some reason no local news media have picked up on the story of LANL's desires to open what LANL calls "minicampuses" in Santa Fe and/or Bernalillo or Rio Rancho, which would do classified national security work, including laboratory work. This concept was presented to the Los Alamos County Council on July 18 ("Los Alamos to metastasize as weapons mission outgrows site Lab management to present before local government Tuesday 7/18/23, 6 pm MDT," Jul 17, 2023). It's a big story, we think.

(See also "Los Alamos National Lab seeks up to 100,000 sq. ft. of laboratory space somewhere within 50 miles," May 6, 2021; LANL leases second office complex in Santa Fe as nuclear weapons growth pushes admin staff off "The Hill"; 2,000 more staff needed for "24/7" plutonium "pit" production mission for only 20 pits/year, Mar 8, 2021.)

In 2019, NNSA proposed to buy and develop the entire Santa Fe City-owned Midtown property. Their proposal, obtained by us via FOIA, was not accepted. Will a smaller version be accepted now? Midtown is an obvious choice for LANL, and the City appears desperate. NNSA can easily handle the site's environmental problems, as they said in their proposal, and their pockets are very deep.

So many people think the Manhattan Project ended a long time ago. In New Mexico, it certainly hasn't. It's growing.

Fifth, if you want to take a more active part in opposing nuclear weapons development, or opposing the Ukraine war, please write. The opportunities here in New Mexico are so very, very rich -- if there is interest. We are working pretty much all the time here on a national basis, and frankly have an unparalleled record of success. Many New Mexicans seem discouraged. We aren't.

Best wishes,

Greg Mello, for the Study Group