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Jul 20
2010
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Trident: can't pay, won't pay?Posted by Kate Hudson in Untagged   |
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You might think that the new government is super-keen to retain and replace Trident. You might think the MoD considers it indispensable to our national security. And you might think that if it is that important they would be willing to pay for it. Well, think again. Over the last few days we've seen a row unfolding between the Treasury and the MoD. Neither of them want to pay to replace Britain's Trident nuclear weapons system.
As far as I'm concerned - and the majority of the British population - I don't blame them. They would be irresponsible in the extreme, not only to waste up to £100 billion on nuclear weapons over the years ahead, but to risk provoking proliferation by saying that nuclear weapons are vital to a country's security.
But this new reluctance hardly fits with the rhetoric of the last two months, where the government has refused to include Trident in the Strategic Defence Review, claiming that it is so vital that its replacement cannot even be reconsidered.
Instead the government is reviewing its 'value-for-money'. Well if they continue along the lines of this current row, maybe they will decide it's not worth it. Just a thought!
Why not express your views to the Treasury on this matter? In line with the new 'big society' ethos of popular responsibility and engagement, I can now facilitate your participation in the Treasury's Spending Challenge process. Click here to make your suggestions about what the government should cut. We have a suggested text about scrapping Trident, but feel free to change it as you prefer. But it is essential that anti-Trident views are expressed because, after all, the only rational, legal, cost-effective, moral and safe option is to scrap it.
As far as I'm concerned - and the majority of the British population - I don't blame them. They would be irresponsible in the extreme, not only to waste up to £100 billion on nuclear weapons over the years ahead, but to risk provoking proliferation by saying that nuclear weapons are vital to a country's security.
But this new reluctance hardly fits with the rhetoric of the last two months, where the government has refused to include Trident in the Strategic Defence Review, claiming that it is so vital that its replacement cannot even be reconsidered.
Instead the government is reviewing its 'value-for-money'. Well if they continue along the lines of this current row, maybe they will decide it's not worth it. Just a thought!
Why not express your views to the Treasury on this matter? In line with the new 'big society' ethos of popular responsibility and engagement, I can now facilitate your participation in the Treasury's Spending Challenge process. Click here to make your suggestions about what the government should cut. We have a suggested text about scrapping Trident, but feel free to change it as you prefer. But it is essential that anti-Trident views are expressed because, after all, the only rational, legal, cost-effective, moral and safe option is to scrap it.
Comments (1)
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written by Claus-Erik Hamle, July 22, 2010
written by Claus-Erik Hamle, July 22, 2010
Former Trident missile engineer Bob Aldridge-www.plrc.org-commented on the missiles to be deployed on ships in the Black Sea in Bulgaria and on land in Poland and Romania by 2015: "Whether they are on ships or land, they are still a necessary component for an unanswerable first strike". The US Navy can track and destroy all enemy submarines simultaneously. Robert C. Aldridge: Nuclear Empire, ch. 9). Minuteman-3 and Trident-2 D5 have an accuracy of 30 meters or less. Bob Aldridge resigned because a disarming and unanswerable first-strike capability leads to Launch On Warning and it may happen by mistake. Brigadier Harbottle, "Bloody fools in the Pentagon" because they didn´t believe in Nuclear Winter. Maybe they still don´t believe in Nuclear Winter ? If so, the good General is still right: They are really bloody fools in the Pentagon. Why else putting the MX warhead on Minuteman-3. Earth-penetrating warheads for the missiles in Bulgaria, Poland and Romania to minimize nuclear winter effects ? Former CND Information Officer David Guinness stated, "It´s only for Blackmail". But it´s suicidal nevertheless.
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