Nuclear Non-Proliferation News
15 December 2008
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News
Welcome to the December edition of Nuclear Non-Proliferation News, a
digest of news on the UK Trident, missile defence, and international nuclear
non-proliferation issues.
US Election and Nuclear Policy
International coverage this month is dominated by coverage of the election
of Barack Obama and his choice of foreign policy and defence teams. Writing
in the Huffington Post, Joe Cirincione and Jon Wolfsthal
highlight "serial failure" of the Bush administration's policies
on proliferation. In a Boston Globe oped Cirincione
suggests that President Obama can find funds for investment in the
US economy by cutting the nuclear weapons budget. Cirincione argues that,
"Transfers to domestic programs will help jumpstart the economy.
Military spending provides some economic stimulus but not as much as targeted
domestic spending."
In Foreign Policy in Focus, Daryl Kimball calls
for transformation of "outdated U.S. policy on nuclear weapons
and reviving U.S. leadership on disarmament and nonproliferation. The
job now is to get the needed support in Congress and the international
arena."
In the UK's Guardian newspaper, Timothy Garton-Ash
calls on Obama to embrace the goal of a world free from nuclear weapons,
following the footsteps of "Russell, Einstein - and Reagan".
The Washington Post reports, however, that in a keynote speech
shortly before the election Secretary of Defense Robert Gates called for
the next Congress to move forward on plans for the reliable replacement
warhead (RRW). "Gates said the United States 'probably
should' ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty 'if there are adequate
verification measures.' But he implied that ratification should not occur
without the RRW program moving ahead."
Israeli newspaper Haaretz quotes a "well-placed American
source" claiming that the Obama administration "will
offer Israel a 'nuclear umbrella' against the threat of a nuclear
attack by Iran". This idea was mooted on the campaign trail by Hillary
Clinton despite opposition from Israel and Republicans in the US.
International Initiatives for Non-Proliferation and Disarmament
The BBC's Gordon Corera covers the launch of the Global Zero initiative
by 100 leading figures in Paris, quoting Queen Noor of Jordan's call to
"work on de-legitimising the status of nuclear weapons".
The launch included a number of prominent British politicians
and business people including Margaret Beckett, Douglas Hurd, Malcolm
Rifkind, and Richard Branson. "It's not about idealism, it is about public
safety and security," said former British Defence Secretary Malcolm Rifkind...
"If there's to be disarmament, it has to be multilateral," he added.
Writing in the Guardian's Comment is Free blog, Foreign
Secretary David Miliband sets out "six key steps necessary to
move the world towards the abolition of nuclear weapons". But, according
to Miliband, "nuclear disarmament cannot take place in isolation
from the international security situation, which is why we took the decision
last year to maintain our deterrent."
Across the Channel, International Herald Tribune reports that
President Sarkozy of France (which currently holds
the Presidency of the EU) has also launched a European initiative on nuclear
disarmament, writing to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon setting out
a seven point disarmament plan (none of which appears to have any impact
on France's nuclear weapons' programme). Full text of Sarkozy's letter
is available on the Acronym website at: www.acronym.org.uk/docs/0812/doc01.htm).
Back in Britain IPPR's Commission on National Security
also calls for the UK to embrace the "long-term goal" of a nuclear
weapon-free world.
A more international initiative comes from Australia where the Rudd
Commission held its first meeting in October. "For the last decade
or so, the international community has been sleepwalking when it comes
to this potential catastrophe," commission joint chairman Gareth Evans,
a former Australian foreign minister, told reporters.
Trident Costs and Risks
In this month's edition, some newspapers have begun to consider the implications
of the financial crisis for Trident. Guardian commentator Marina
Hyde writes "Call me a killjoy, but £70bn seems a
lot for a sports car".
The Telegraph suggests that spending on Trident
replacement could be "brought forward" in an attempt to
secure defence industry jobs. Whether this would result in better job
security or simply greater profits for the defence industry seems questionable
as the Times reports a surge in Babcock's order
book due to MoD work. "Babcock’s attraction is its skew to areas
of what might be deemed nondiscretionary spending... Not maintaining a
nuclear submarine is not an option... – Babock works at Sellafield, Dounreay
and Aldermaston." Meanwhile the Press Association and the Herald
report further privatisation of jobs at Sellafield and
Coulport.
Most of the newspapers reported on the National
Audit Office's report on the cost, timing and risks involved with
replacing Trident. In the Guardian, Richard Norton-Taylor writes
that "Renewing Britain's multibillion pound Trident
nuclear missile system involves huge risks and serious questions remain
about the cost of the project." The FT warns that costs
could rise if the Ministry of Defence does not manage key risks. Whilst
the BBC warns of a "challenging timetable"
to replace Trident.
MoD's timetable for Trident renewal is based on the assumption that "continuous
at sea deterrence" (CASD) is maintained. Following the NAO report,
Aviation Week reports that the MoD is studying the
implications of a further life-extension of its current Vanguard
class ballistic missile submarine fleet, presumably with the objective
of maintaining CASD. Writing in the armscontrolwonk blog, however, James
Acton argues that abandoning CASD "would help lessen the political-military
salience of nuclear weapons".
The Guardian and the Telegraph report on documents released
under the Freedom of Information Act indicating that contrary
to Ministerial statements to Parliament, the UK government has already
decided to go ahead with replacing the Trident warhead. "Ministers
have repeatedly denied there are any plans to replace the warheads as
part of the upgrade of the Trident nuclear system, insisting no decision
will be taken until the next parliament, probably sometime after 2010.
However, previously unpublished papers released under the Freedom of Information
Act reveal one of the MoD's senior officials told a private gathering
of arms manufacturers that the decision had already been taken."
Come hell or high water
Rob Edwards in New Scientist considers an internal MoD safety
manual that identifies the risk of "popcorning"
or warhead design flaws that could conceivably cause multiple warheads
to explode one after another. In the Telegraph Julian Rush reveals
that parts of the UK's Atomic Weapons Establishment at
Burghfield came "within 2 to 3 hours" of being overwhelmed by the floods
last summer (see also Renewing Trident:
Can the UK's Atomic Weapons Establishment Cope? Henrietta Wilson,
Disarmament Diplomacy No. 88, Summer 2008).
Highlighting another risk associated with nuclear weapon programmes,
Gordon Corera broke the story on the BBC that the
US had left a nuclear weapon abandoned beneath the ice in northern Greenland
following a crash in 1968.
The Debate continues at Westminster...
The Guardian reports on Gordon Brown's appointment of John
Hutton as Secretary of State for Defence, noting that Hutton represents
the "safe Labour seat of Barrow and Furness - where Britain's nuclear
submarines are built. Hutton has repeatedly argued not just for Trident
not to be scrapped, but for more nuclear submarines to be built."
The BBC notes that Hutton wasted no time before visiting Faslane to declare
his commitment to "keeping nuclear weapons in Scotland".
Mr Hutton said the naval base on the Clyde, which is home to the Trident
nuclear submarine fleet, was a "vital part of our country's defence."
Conservative leader David Cameron was also visiting
nuclear facilities, including BAE Systems in Hutton's constituency where
he announced that he was "proud of the fact that my party, when there
was a very divided debate in the Labour Party about whether to renew or
rather replace Trident with an updated nuclear deterrent, that while Labour
was split, we could have played kind of silly buggers with the whole thing,
but we said: 'No, we're voting for this.'"
The Guardian reports that Liberal Democrats continue
to argue for a delay in the decision to replace Trident until 2014
and for a reduction by 50% in the number of warheads.
... and at Holyrood
The Herald reports on the Scottish government's
call for observer status at nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty meetings,
which has been vociferously opposed by Scottish Office Minister David
Cairns (Labour). As the Herald comments, "It's actually very
difficult to argue a coherent case against Scotland having a presence
at international disarmament talks, since Scotland has had the dubious
honour of hosting Britain's nuclear deterrent for 40 years."
The Westminster government has hit back at the Scottish
government's initiatives on Trident with John Hutton describing them
as "incredible folly" and "national vandalism". The Scotsman reports
that the UK Ministry of Defence has "issued a
strongly worded put-down" of Scottish government policy in this
area. Westminster has asked the Commission on Scottish
Devolution, chaired by Sir Kenneth Calman to "tackle the problem
of Holyrood being able to use the devolved powers it enjoys over planning
and transport to block Westminster's activities in the areas of energy
and defence."
Neither confirm nor deny
The Times, the Telegraph and the Scotsman covered
a report from the Federation of American Scientists that the last
remaining US nuclear bombs have now been withdrawn from RAF Lakenheath
in East Anglia. Neither the UK nor the US governments would comment on
the stories.
Missile Defence and US-Russia relations
Following the US elections, Time.com predicts
that "Missile-defense skeptics yearning for a fresh look at the wisdom
of pumping $10 billion annually into missile defense aren't going to get
it from Barack Obama", claiming that the project has now reached
"escape velocity" and will move "full speed ahead".
In contrast Stars and Stripes predicts that the President elect
will face a "host of concerns" including "technological
uncertainties about the shield and strategic realities among America’s
allies and adversaries". It speculates on a return to "the standard
Democratic position of purposefully slow and deliberate
development".
The debate continues in the Czech Republic with Foreign
Minister Karel Schwarzenberg quoted as saying that the US may "temporarily
postpone its plan to install a missile defence radar base on Czech soil
due to the present financial crisis". The Czech
opposition leader Social Democrat Jiri Paroubek has rejected allegations
that his party is prepared to give up its position of opposition to the
stationing of a U.S. missile defence radar on Czech soil in exchange for
the support of the EU Lisbon treaty by the Civic Democrats.
The Times reports that French President Nicholas
Sarkozy has handed Barack Obama a foreign policy "hot potato"
by proposing a summit on pan-European security and a pause in the US drive
to deploy missile defence facilities in Europe. "I have suggested
that in mid2009 we could meet within a framework to lay the foundations
of what could possibly be a future pan-European security system. This
would bring together the Russians, the Americans and the Europeans...
Between now and then, please, no more talk of missile deployment or antimissile
deployment."
Russia Today gives a different perspective on the latest US missile
defence test, quoting Russian Colonel-general Viktor
Yesin's comments that the test was aimed at Russia and China: "To
avoid agitating public opinion, U.S. Missile Defense Agency officials
say the test was aimed at intercepting North Korean and Iranian rockets.
But we missile specialists understand that it was in fact aimed at stopping
Russian and Chinese intercontinental missiles." Russian rhetoric
has been growing steadily more belicose since the conflict in Georgia
and the signing of the US-Poland missile defence deal.
In September the Times reported on Russian President Medvedev's
statement that Russia "must modernise its nuclear
defences within eight years, including the creation of a 'system of
air and space defence'." This was followed in November by a further
announcement that Russia would deploy missiles
in the Baltic region of Kaliningrad in response to US missile defence
plans.
In November the Guardian reported that "More
than 50 Labour MPs have issued a statement calling for a public debate
on US plans to push ahead with a missile defence system using bases
in the UK and Europe." In conjunction with this demand on the Guardian's
website, former Labour Minister Peter Kilfoyle
aruges that "our government surreptitiously allowed the incorporation
of RAF Fylingdales and RAF Menwith Hill into the American system. This
was without the public and parliamentary debate demanded by more than
two thirds of the British public, and promised by Tony Blair in February
2007."
Ending the Weapons in Space Race
Following the launch of a Chinese space mission in September, the Independent
notes that, "With the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty now in abeyance,
thanks to President Bush and his ambitions for national missile defence,
there is now no international regulatory framework that China could be
invited to join. The argument for some updated treaty
that would constrain the militarisation of space is compelling. The
unpalatable alternative is the start of a new competition for supremacy
in space."
In this edition:
US Election and Disarmament Initiatives
News from the UK
International News
An archive of press coverage is available on our website at: www.acronym.org.uk/news.
We welcome your comments and feedback. Please send your comments to info@acronym.org.uk.
US Election and Disarmament Initiatives
US Election and Nuclear Policy
Obama's
atomic umbrella: U.S. nuclear strike if Iran nukes Israel
Aluf Benn, Haaretz, 11 December 2008
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's administration will offer Israel a
"nuclear umbrella" against the threat of a nuclear attack by Iran, a well-placed
American source said earlier this week. The source, who is close to the
new administration, said the U.S. will declare that an attack on Israel
by Tehran would result in a devastating U.S. nuclear response against
Iran.
Debate
This: The Collapse of Bush's Nuclear Strategy
Joe Cirincione and Jon Wolfsthal, Huffingtonpost.com, 8 December
2008
It is not just U.S. economic policy that is in crisis. News from Iran
and North Korea this week highlights the collapse of US efforts to stem
the spread of nuclear weapons. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said
earlier this month that the Bush administration will leave the global
nonproliferation "situation . . . in far better shape than we found it."
Would it were true. The next president will inherit a far more dangerous
nuclear world than that President Bush found in January 2001.
Strategic
Command Chief Urges Quick Nuclear Weapons Modernization
Walter Pincus, Washington Post, 5 December 2008
Tauscher, whose California district is the site of one of the nation's
leading nuclear weapons labs, became a leader in Congress's effort to
eliminate the RRW program. She said the Obama administration should "take
the high ground" internationally by developing a comprehensive nuclear
weapons policy that includes ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty, extending the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia and
modernizing a sharply reduced warhead stockpile. She called on the United
States to boost funding for the International Atomic Energy Agency and
prepare a multilateral program to be presented at the 2010 U.N. review
of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Terrorists
could mount nuclear or biological attack within 5 years, warns Congress
inquiry
Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian, 4 December 2008
Pakistan singled out as likely source of weaponry.
Obama urged to prioritise non-proliferation issues.
An investigation by the US Congress into weapons of mass destruction published
yesterday made a chilling prediction of terrorists mounting an attack
using biological or nuclear weapons within the next five years.
Need
cash? Cut nuclear weapons budget
Joseph Cirincione, Boston Globe, 3 December 2008
PRESIDENT-ELECT Barack Obama needs money. "To make the investments
we need," he said last week, "we'll have to scour our federal budget,
line by line, and make meaningful cuts and sacrifices, as well." There
is no better place to start than the nuclear weapons budget. He can cut
obsolete programs and transfer tens of billions of dollars per year to
pressing conventional military and domestic programs.
U.S.
must halt spread of nuclear, bio weapons: Biden
Randall Mikkelsen, Reuters, 3 December 2008
The United States has done too little to fight the spread of weapons
of mass destruction, U.S. Vice President-elect Joe Biden said on Wednesday,
as he got a congressional report warning of their pressing threat.
Change
Nuclear Weapons Policy? Yes, We Can.
Daryl Kimball, Foreign Policy in Focus, 25 November 2008
The election of Barack Obama to the presidency represents a clear mandate
for change on a number of fronts, including transforming outdated U.S.
policy on nuclear weapons and reviving U.S. leadership on disarmament
and nonproliferation. The job now is to get the needed support in Congress
and the international arena.
Obama
must show the way to a goal set by Russell, Einstein - and Reagan
Achieving a world free of atomic weapons will require full international
control of the nuclear fuel cycle. Yes, we must.
Timothy Garton Ash, The Guardian, 13 November 2008
As he embarks on the uphill struggle to translate dreams into realities,
one strategic goal President-elect Barack Obama should embrace on his
inauguration day is that of a world freed from the threat of nuclear weapons.
In doing so, he can build on an impressive body of detailed, bipartisan,
unofficial policy planning in the United States. He can expect an enthusiastic
response from hundreds of millions of his supporters around the world
who are hoping he will think and act big. He can be equally sure of crocodile
smiles masking determined opposition from several countries that possess
nuclear weapons, as well as other states and dark forces who would like
nothing more than to have them - and, in some cases such as the Islamic
Republic of Iran, are actively working towards acquiring them.
Gates
Suggests New Arms Deal With Russia
By Walter Pincus, Washington Post, 29 October 2008
In his speech, Gates took a hard line on the need for the next Congress
to move forward on the Bush administration's plan to develop and produce
a new warhead. He warned of the "bleak" prospect that the roughly 4,000
older warheads in the current stockpile would no longer be safe, secure
and reliable... "To be blunt, there is absolutely no way we can maintain
a credible deterrent and reduce the number of weapons in our stockpile
without resorting to testing or pursuing a modernization program," he
said... In response to a question, Gates said the United States "probably
should" ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty "if there are adequate
verification measures." But he implied that ratification should not occur
without the RRW program moving ahead.
Sounding
the Nuclear Alarm
By Melanie Kirkpatrick, Wall Street Journal, 21 November 2008
Gen. Kevin Chilton, a former command astronaut, is no stranger to
cutting-edge technology. But these days the man responsible for the command
and control of U.S. nuclear forces finds himself talking more often about
'57 Chevys than the space shuttle. On a recent visit to The Wall Street
Journal he wheeled out the Chevy analogy to describe the nation's aging
arsenal of nuclear warheads. The message he's carrying to the Pentagon,
Capitol Hill, the press and anyone else who will listen is: Modernize,
modernize, modernize.
Report
on Nuclear Security Urges Prompt Global Action
By David E. Hoffman, Washington Post, 18 November 2008
The report, "Securing the Bomb 2008," the seventh annual study from
Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs,
is to be released today. The study was commissioned by the Nuclear Threat
Initiative, a nonproliferation organization co-chaired by former senator
Sam Nunn of Georgia.
Non-Nuclear
Warhead Urged for Trident Missile
Walter Pincus, Washington Post, 16 August 2008
A National Research Council blue-ribbon panel of defense experts is recommending
development and testing of a conventional warhead for submarine-launched
intercontinental Trident missiles to give the president an alternative
to using nuclear weapons for a prompt strike anywhere in the world.
Science
panel backs conventional trident missile
Elaine Grossman, Global Security Newswire, 15 August 2008
The Navy missile was to be the first weapon developed and deployed for
a new mission called "prompt global strike," in which terrorist targets
or rogue nations could be attacked within just one hour of a launch command.
Currently, nuclear weapons are the only tools in the U.S. military arsenal
available to hit urgent targets halfway around the world in such short
order.
Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Initiatives
No
nukes: World leaders call for end to all nuclear weapons
Jordan Lite, Scientific American, 10 December 2008
'Tis the season to get rid of nukes? In an effort to achieve world peace
and lessen the growing threat of nuclear power, a nascent group including
the likes of former President Jimmy Carter, former Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev, Bishop Desmond Tutu and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa
this week launched a campaign calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
Group
seeks nuclear weapons ban
By Gordon Corera, BBC, 10 December 2008
A group of international dignitaries have launched a new campaign in Paris
to eliminate nuclear weapons...The Global Zero group believes that reducing
the still large US and Russian stockpiles - which make up 96% of all the
nuclear weapons in the world - should be amongst the first steps which
in turn can then draw in third parties and other nuclear powers into a
wider and deeper process... "It's not about idealism, it is about public
safety and security," said former British Defence Secretary Malcolm Rifkind
who attended the conference. "If there's to be disarmament, it has to
be multilateral," he added.
Global
foreign policy leaders launch bid to eliminate nuclear arms
AFP, 10 December 2008
PARIS (AFP) — One hundred political, military, business and civic leaders
from across the globe launched a new initiative in Paris on Tuesday aiming
eliminate all nuclear weapons... "The threat of proliferation and nuclear
terrorism has led to a growing chorus of government leaders ... calling
for the elimination of all nuclear weapons, including Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin and US President-elect Barack Obama," said a statement
issued after many of the signatories met here."
Ex-Leaders
Launch Nuclear Disarmament Initiative
Global Security Newswire, 9 December 2008
A group of international leaders, including former heads of state and
top diplomatic and defense officials, launched a new effort yesterday
to eliminate all nuclear weapons (see GSN, Dec. 8). "This will not happen
overnight; it will be done step-by-step through phased and verified reductions
over a period of years," according to a fact sheet from the initiative,
called Global Zero. "It is urgent that we begin now."
EU
must help reduce nuclear proliferation, warns MEP
Martin Banks, The Parliament.com, 9 December 2008
Dutch MEP Jan Marinus Wiersma has warned of a possible backlash from
rogue states if the EU fails to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in
the world. Speaking at a top-level conference in parliament on Tuesday,
Wiersma, deputy leader of the Socialist group, “We have a window of opportunity
to move the agenda on nuclear disarmament forward and strengthen the non-proliferation
regime, but we need a new international debate to discuss the steps which
need to be taken,” he told theparliament.com.
A
world without nuclear weapons
David Miliband, guardian.co.uk, 8 December 2008
Just as the UK has set out its vision of a world without nuclear weapons,
so has US president-elect Barack Obama. I believe the moment is now right
to work with the new US administration and our partners for a renewed
drive: to stop proliferation, to realise the benefits of nuclear energy
and radically accelerate progress on six key steps necessary to move the
world towards the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Sarkozy
leads EU push to cut nuclear weapons
Steven Erlanger, International Herald Tribune, 8 December, 2008
PARIS: The European Union is attempting to revive a movement to reduce
the number of nuclear weapons in the world, proposing a global ban on
nuclear testing and a moratorium on production of all fissile material,
according to a letter from the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, made
public Monday.
France
floats EU plan on nuclear weapons cuts
Associated Press, 8 December 2008
PARIS (AP) — French President Nicolas Sarkozy presented an ambitious European
plan Monday to the United Nations to revive global nuclear disarmament
efforts. Sarkozy, in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said
the EU wants a global ban on nuclear tests, a moratorium on production
of fissile material and a treaty banning on ground-to-ground short- and
medium-range missiles.
France
Proposes Nuclear Arms-Control Measures
Pierre Tran, DefenseNews.com, 8 December 2008
French President Nicolas Sarkozy wrote Dec. 5 to the UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-Moon, setting out the European Union's proposals for advancing
nuclear disarmament in the U.N. forum.
Call
to shake up security strategy
Jimmy Burns, Financial Times, 28 November 2008
The Commission on National Security in the 21st Century says the threat
of state-based nuclear proliferation and concerns over terrorism require
more systematic and interna- tionally co-ordinated efforts ahead of a
conference to review the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 2010... "The
world urgently needs rapid cuts in existing nuclear arsenals and serious
strategic dialogue aimed at the pursuit of a world free of nuclear weapons
altogether," says the report.
UK 'should
shift security agenda'
BBC News Online, 27 November 2008
The UK should seize on Barack Obama's victory to reshape its national
security policy, a think tank says... The commission says Iran should
be stopped from developing nuclear weapons and that nuclear deterrence
is no longer a sound basis of security policy. The UK's long-term goal,
it says, should be a nuclear weapon-free world, a goal also talked about
by President-elect Obama during his election campaign.
New
commission seeks to bolster arms control pact
By James Grubel, Reuters, 21 October 2008
At its first meeting, the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation
and Disarmament said the end of the Cold War, and a decade of complacency,
had led to an increase in nuclear weapons, with up to 16,000 warheads
deployed worldwide. "For the last decade or so, the international community
has been sleepwalking when it comes to this potential catastrophe," commission
joint chairman Gareth Evans, a former Australian foreign minister, told
reporters.
Nukes
biggest threat to world: Keating
The Sydney Morning Herald, 23 August 2008
The proliferation of nuclear weapons is the single biggest threat facing
the world today, former prime minister Paul Keating says... He said the
United States, China, France, Britain and Russia - all signatories to
the nuclear non-proliferation treaty - are not only not ridding themselves
of nuclear weapons, but developing new ones. He cited Tony Blair's Trident
submarine program announced in 2006 and said the Bush administration had
"turned its hand to new bunker-busting nuclear weapons designed to attack
underground facilities."
Swords
and Ploughshares: The new nuclear pioneers
From The Economist print edition, 14 August 2008
For the past 18 months AWE has co-operated with non-nuclear Norway and
a London-based NGO, the Verification Research, Training and Information
Centre (Vertic), on techniques for verifying that when a country promises
to cut weapons, it really does. This involves finding ways to let inspectors
snoop about places like AWE and other sites where fissile materials from
both dismantled weapons and active ones are present, without inadvertently
spreading the knowledge of how to build a bomb.
UK News
Trident Costs and Risks
Finger
on the nuclear button
By Richard Knight, Today Programme, BBC, 2 December 2008
Within days of coming to power, Gordon Brown had to make a decision
with potentially massive consequences for Britain and the world. Would
he, in the event of a surprise nuclear attack in which he was killed before
he could react, want Britain's last line of defence - a lone Trident submarine
on patrol somewhere under the Atlantic - to retaliate?
Whose hand is on
the button?
By Richard Knight, BBC Radio 4, 2 December 2008
For a BBC Radio 4 documentary, The Human Button, we were given unprecedented
access to Britain's nuclear weapons infrastructure in order to answer
three basic questions: How does the system work? What's it like to be
a part of it and is it fail-safe?
Call
me a killjoy, but £70bn seems a lot for a sports car
Marina Hyde, The Guardian, 29 November 2008
It's time to start talking about nuclear weapons again, to demand
that Brown drop his bizarre attachment to Trident... His beloved Trident!
Not a scratch on it, of course, and so adoringly maintained. Oh, he knows
it's irrational, and an indulgence, and a throwback to when his life was
completely different. And it's been murder to get the parts down the years.
It's stupidly self-regarding to be worrying what the neighbours would
say, and it would solve so many of their problems in a single swoop. But
must it really go?
Forking
out for Trident
Edward Pearce, guardian.co.uk, 26 November 2008
Trident 2 is wasteful expenditure, a burden on an overspent economy.
It is swank spending, a sort of unhandsome Taj Mahal, memorial not to
a Moghul's wife, but a politician's career: Blair's.
U.K.
Ponders Further Vanguard Extension
Aviation Week, 21 November 2008
The British Defense Ministry is studying the implications of a further
life-extension of its ballistic missile submarine fleet, as it attempts
to manage an already demanding schedule for a Vanguard-class successor.
Cutting
taxes or spending more – the Government's options
By Alastair Jamieson, Telegraph.co.uk, 15 November 2008
The Chancellor has already signalled that the £3.9bn contracts for
building two new aircraft carriers, The HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince
Of Wales, due to enter service in 2014 and 2016, could be brought forward
along with a replacement for the Trident nuclear deterrent. The MoD estimates
the contracts will guarantee around 10,000 jobs in the British defence
industry, but as with the £16bn London Crossrail scheme it is unclear
how much the government can do to speed up the project.
Trident
cost and timetable questioned by watchdog
Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian, 5 November 2008
Renewing Britain's multibillion pound Trident nuclear missile system involves
huge risks and serious questions remain about the cost of the project,
parliament's independent watchdog warns today. The government's timetable
is so tight that any delays could jeopardise the declared aim of the nuclear
deterrent, adds the National Audit Office in a report highlighting risks
involving the cost, design, and management of the controversial programme.
Watchdog
warns on Trident timing
BBC News, 5 November 2008
The spending watchdog warned of a "challenging timetable" if the new submarines
were to be ready before the old Vanguard class was retired in 2024. Key
developments would have to be made by September 2009, if the project is
to remain on course, it said.
Watchdog
warns on cost of replacing subs
By Sylvia Pfeifer, FT.com, 5 November 2008
The cost of replacing Britain’s nuclear deterrent, estimated at between
£15bn and £20bn, could rise if the Ministry of Defence does not manage
key risks in the coming months, the public spending watchdog warns on
Tuesday.
Continuous
Deterrence: Still Necessary?
James Acton, Armscontrolwonk.com, 8 August 2008
The question is ultimately whether morale is enough of a reason for
keeping CASD. For me, abandoning CASD would be a real, meaningful step
toward the NPT’s disarmament obligation (and the pretty much unanimous
view in Whitehall is that this is crucial to building a coalition to prevent
proliferation). It also would help lessen the political-military salience
of nuclear weapons and further reduce the (already slim) chance of a catastrophic
accident. Morale does matter but surely the political benefits of abandoning
CASD matter more.
Scrapping
Britain’s commitment to replacing Trident would resolve our fiscal uncertainties
Letter to The Herald from John Ainslie, Coordinator, Scottish Campaign
for Nuclear Disarmament, 15 May 2008
If Alistair Darling wants to balance his books, then perhaps he should
have a word with the Defence Secretary. On October 30, Des Browne announced
plans to spend £2bn a year on nuclear weapons. Annual expenditure on Britain's
weapons of mass destruction has increased by £500m and will rise further
if the government goes ahead with its plan to build a new nuclear weapon
system to replace Trident.
Britain's
nuclear warheads will be upgraded, document suggests
By Lucy Cockcroft, Telegraph.co.uk, 25 July 2008
A senior Ministry of Defence official told a private gathering of arms
manufacturers that the decision to replace the warheads had already been
taken, according to documents released under the freedom of Information
Act... The statement is in contradiction to previous assertions made by
ministers. They have always denied that there are plans to replace the
warheads as part of the upgrade of the Trident nuclear system, and insisted
that no decision would be made until the next parliament, probably sometime
after 2010.
Defending
our dependency
Dan Plesch, guardian.co.uk, 25 July 2008
There is a hidden bonus of over £2bn to US corporations if the government
goes ahead with building new nuclear warheads. American firm Lockheed
Martin has a large share in the management and ownership of the UK's nuclear
weapons factories at Aldermaston. It is also owns a company called Insys,
whose purpose is to tell you and me through the government whether Aldermaston
is doing a good job.
Britain
plans to spend £3bn on new nuclear warheads: Decision breaches non-proliferation
treaty, opponents say
Matthew Taylor, The Guardian, 25 July 2008
The UK is to replace its stockpile of nuclear warheads at an estimated
cost of more than £3bn, according to documents seen by the Guardian. Ministers
have repeatedly denied there are any plans to replace the warheads as
part of the upgrade of the Trident nuclear system, insisting no decision
will be taken until the next parliament, probably sometime after 2010.
Nuclear Safety
US
left nuclear weapon under ice in Greenland
Jon Swaine, Telegraph.co.uk, 11 November 2008
The US left a nuclear weapon lodged under ice in northern Greenland after
losing it in a plane crash in 1968, it has emerged. The incident came
amid the height of the Cold War, when American B52 bombers were flying
continuously around the country's Thule Air Base to keep watch for possible
missile strikes from the USSR.
Has
Anyone Seen a Stray H-Bomb?
Carla Baranauckas, New York Times, 11 November 2008
A hydrogen bomb is missing from the United States’ arsenal — and has
been, evidently, for 40 years. When last seen, the bomb was one of four
aboard an Air Force B-52 bomber that crashed on a frozen bay near Thule
Air Force Base in northern Greenland on Jan. 21, 1968. At first, all four
bombs were unaccounted for, according to a front-page article in The New
York Times on Jan. 23, 1968.
Revealed:
How U.S. left nuclear warhead lying at bottom of ocean after B52 crash
in 1968
Daily Mail, 11 November 2008
A U.S. nuclear warhead was abandoned under the ice in northern Greenland
after a B52 bomber crashed in 1968, an investigation has found. The Pentagon
believed the former Soviet Union would destroy the base as a prelude to
a nuclear strike against the U.S. and began flying nuclear-armed B52s
continuously over Thule in 1960 in order to retaliate.
Mystery
of lost US nuclear bomb
By Gordon Corera BBC News security correspondent, northern Greenland,
10 November 2008
The United States abandoned a nuclear weapon beneath the ice in northern
Greenland following a crash in 1968, a BBC investigation has found.
Radioactive
legacy of 'lost bomb'
By Gordon Corera, BBC News, 10 November 2008
The crash of a B-52 aircraft, armed with nuclear warheads, in north-west
Greenland back in 1968 has left a lasting legacy, according to those involved
in the clear-up and those who live in the region now.
Britain's
nuclear weapons factory 'nearly overwhelmed' by flood
By Julian Rush, Telegraph.co.uk, 11 October 2008
Alarm systems at Britain's nuclear weapons factory were put out of
action for 10 days by last summer's floods, leaving tens of thousands
of people without warning in the event of a nuclear accident... Parts
of the factory came "within 2 to 3 hours" of being overwhelmed by the
floods - which could have led to the release of potentially radioactive
contaminated water.
Nuclear
missiles could blow up 'like popcorn'
By Duncan Gardham, Telegraph.co.uk, 26 June 2008
A design flaw in Britain's nuclear arsenal means that warheads could set
off a chain reaction "like popcorn" if they were accidentally dropped,
according to Ministry of Defence documents... a nuclear-weapons safety
manual drawn up by the MoD's internal nuclear-weapons regulator, and declassified
last month, argues that this standard single-point design might not be
enough to prevent "popcorning".
Could
nuclear warheads go off 'like popcorn'?
Rob Edwards, New Scientist, 26 June 2008
YOU might think nuclear weapons have been carefully designed not to
go off by accident. Yet more than 1700 of them have design flaws that
could conceivably cause multiple warheads to explode one after another
- an effect known as "popcorning" - according to a UK Ministry of Defence
safety manual.
Nuclear Industry
BAE
accused of £100m secret payments to seal South Africa arms deal
David Leigh and Rob Evans, The Guardian, 6 December 2008
More than £100m was secretly paid by the arms company BAE to sell
warplanes to South Africa, according to allegations in a detailed police
dossier seen by the Guardian yesterday. The leaked evidence from South
African police and the British Serious Fraud Office quotes a BAE agent
recommending "financially incentivising" politicians.
Private
sector move for Sellafield
Press Association, 24 November 2008
Thousands of workers will move from the public to the private sector
when a consortium of three firms takes over a £22 billion contract to
run one of the UK's biggest nuclear sites. One of the biggest and most
complex public procurement exercises ever held in this country will be
completed when the shares in Sellafield Ltd are transferred from the state-owned
BNFL to a newly created private sector consortium.
USA
sub builders to plug yard skills gap
North West Evening Mail, 13 November 2008
BAE is bringing in American submarine building experts to help plug some
of the skill shortages hitting the yard’s Astute-class vessels. The new
US influx includes designers of future subs, as well as skilled shopfloor
managers and team leaders from the Electric Boat nuclear submarine building
company of Rhode Island, USA.
Babcock
has engineered the formula for a promising outlook
Nick Hasell, The Times, 12 November 2008
As such deals demonstrate, Babcock’s attraction is its skew to areas
of what might be deemed nondiscretionary spending, whether military or
otherwise. Not maintaining a nuclear submarine is not an option; neither
is not looking after a warships’s weapon systems, not checking track on
the rail network or neglecting the running of a civil nuclear installation
– Babock works at Sellafield, Dounreay and Aldermaston.
Straight
talking on dockyard's future
Plymouth Herald, 11 November 2008
Workers shook theirs in disbelief as word reached them about what
Babcock Marine chief executive Archie Bethel had told reporters. Although
300 jobs were to go, there were no plans for further redundancies at the
yard, said Mr Bethel. The order book was busy and the outlook for more
work was good, he said.
Life
on a nuclear sub
Daniel Allen, The Times, 30 October 2008
Some things about being in a submarine sound deceptively normal. In recreation
periods the crew watch films, use exercise machines or take part in games
and quizzes. But the harsh reality of being in a long, thin tube in the
yawning chasms of the deep for weeks on end is that help is a long way
off.
HMS Vigilant
docks for its refit
BBC News, 12 October 2008
The Royal Navy's HMS Vigilant has docked in Plymouth to undergo a three-year
refit. The work, which will include refuelling the submarine's nuclear
power plant which be carried out at HM Naval Base Devonport.
US
engineering group Jacobs set to win British missile plant
Dominic O’Connell, Sunday Times, 5 October 2008
AN American engineering group is set to buy the government’s one-third
stake in the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), the Berkshire complex
that manufactures and maintains the warheads on Britain’s nuclear missiles.
Yard boss pays tribute
to BAE chief executive
West Evening Mail, 29 August 2008
SHIPYARD boss Murray Easton has paid tribute to his boss and friend Mike
Turner who retires as BAE Systems chief executive tomorrow... Mr Easton
believes the spending commitment is particularly important in relation
to submarines. He said: “We have an ongoing programme for four nuclear
submarines of the Astute class.“They are obviously very advanced vessels
and very capable, however the Navy needs seven of these, and the workforce
at Barrow needs seven to retain the skills and resources at a level compatible
with the future needs of the Trident (submarine) successor programme which
is currently in its concept phase.“We can’t afford to suffer the same
damage to skills and resources that happened between the Vanguard (Trident)
and Astute classes, and it is absolutely crucial we have continuity to
ensure we retain the incredible skills and capabilities we have in submarine
design, build and commissioning.”
Plan
to privatise Coulport nuclear submarine base jobs
Torcuil Crichton, The Herald, 31 July 2008
The servicing of Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent is set to be privatised
as part of a review of the armaments base on the Clyde. Almost half of
the 540 jobs at the Royal Navy Armament Depot Coulport, where Trident
warheads are stored and loaded on to nuclear submarines, could be taken
over by the private sector after a Ministry of Defence review of the base.
The move was last night attacked by the SNP. The party's defence spokesman,
Angus Robertson MP, said it was the latest in a series of "highly questionable"
privatisation initiatives by the Labour government.
UK
Political Parties
UK
missed a trick on nuclear weapons
Letter to the Guardian from Edward Davey MP, Liberal Democrat
Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, The Guardian, 15 November 2008
Government investment in new verification technologies is welcome. Yet
the secrecy over the government's plans for the development of a new nuclear
warhead to go with its new submarines undermines such initiatives: its
nuclear weapons budget is now near cold war proportions, but with little
or no oversight. With the excuse of subservience to a hawkish regime in
Washington now gone, the government must now do all it can to support
Obama's efforts. It should, for example, now offer to reduce Britain's
remaining nuclear warheads by 50% before the NPT review conference to
help kick-start progress on global disarmament, and urge the US and Russia
to go for radical reductions too.
Faslane
'vital' to UK's defence
BBC News, 16 October 2008
Defence Secretary John Hutton said he was committed to keeping nuclear
weapons in Scotland during his first visit to Faslane in his new post.
Mr Hutton said the naval base on the Clyde, which is home to the Trident
nuclear submarine fleet, was a "vital part of our country's defence."
Profile:
John Hutton
Deborah Summers, The Guardian, 3 October 2008
He unsuccessfully fought seats in the 1987 general election and 1989
European elections for Labour, before being selected for the safe Labour
seat of Barrow and Furness - where Britain's nuclear submarines are built.
Hutton has repeatedly argued not just for Trident not to be scrapped,
but for more nuclear submarines to be built.
Dissenting
MPs urge U-turn on tax cuts
Allegra Stratton, Polly Curtis and Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian,
13 September 2008
The Lib Dems have proposed a 50% cut in the nuclear weapons arsenal
and say a decision to replace Trident need not be taken until 2014.
Cameron:
It's time for change in Barrow
North West Evening Mail, 15 August 2008
“I’m proud of the fact that my party, when there was a very divided
debate in the Labour Party about whether to renew or rather replace Trident
with an updated nuclear deterrent, that while Labour was split, we could
have played kind of silly buggers with the whole thing, but we said: ‘No,
we’re voting for this.’
“We believe in nuclear deterrent, we believe we need a replacement to
Trident. I also happen to think it should be built right here in Barrow-in-Furness.”
Brown
hit by call for resignation and bad poll ratings
Andrew Sparrow, Hélène Mulholland and agencies, The Guardian, 28 July
2008
Gordon Prentice, the MP for Pendle, said that Brown ought to stand down
because he did not have the skills to lead Labour to victory at the next
election... As an example of what he meant, Prentice said that he had
"no idea" that Brown was so enthusiastic about nuclear power or the Trident
nuclear submarine programme before he became prime minister.
Scottish Opposition to Trident
MoD
shoots down Holyrood's battle to block Trident
By Gerri Peev, Scotsman.com, 11 November 2008
THE Ministry of Defence has issued a strongly worded put-down of Scottish
Government attempts to block the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent.
In its submission to the Calman Commission, the MoD recognises escalating
tensions between the Westminster government and the SNP administration
at Holyrood, which opposes Trident.
Power
– and who should have it
Scotsman.com, 11 November 2008
As thorny are the issues of defence and nuclear power. The Westminster
government has asked the Calman Commission to tackle the problem of Holyrood
being able to use the devolved powers it enjoys over planning and transport
to block Westminster's activities in the areas of energy and defence.
The SNP administration, which is strongly anti-nuclear, has looked to
ways of using its devolved powers to stymie the building of new nuclear
power stations in Scotland. This anti-nuclear stance has extended to attacking
plans to renew the Trident warheads on the Clyde, by suggesting the imposition
of tolls on roads leading to the Faslane submarine base.
London
seeks end to Scots nuclear veto
By Ross Lydall, The Scotsman, 11 November 2008
Should the recommendations to curb the veto powers be adopted by Calman
and come before the Scottish Parliament, that cross-party group could
force them through in the face of SNP opposition. The Nationalists' anti-nuclear
stance has extended to attacking plans to renew the Trident warheads on
the Clyde by suggesting, for example, using powers to impose traffic-calming
measures that would make it difficult for large convoys to get in and
out of Faslane submarine base.
SNP
call to scrap nuclear defence plans
By Hamish Macdonell, The Scotsman, 6 November 2008
NATIONALISTS called yesterday for the UK government to abandon the Trident
replacement programme after a new report warned that it would be very
difficult to deliver the project on time and in budget.
A
canny plan to rain on the Trident parade
Iain MacWhirter, The Herald, 22 October 2008
It's actually very difficult to argue a coherent case against Scotland
having a presence at international disarmament talks, since Scotland has
had the dubious honour of hosting Britain's nuclear deterrent for 40 years...
But David Cairns, the Scotland Office minister, says that Alex Salmond
should be sorting out the free personal care instead of "cavorting across
the world stage with his discredited loony-left policies" and giving comfort
to our enemies... If he is saying that the presence of an anti-nuclear
Scottish Government representative at the NNPT talks might be an embarrassment,
then fair enough. But Britain has every cause to be embarrassed, since
we've driven a coach and horses through the NNPT by renewing the Trident
missile system.
Whitehall
and Scotland in 'nuclear war'
By Craig Brown, Scotsman, 17 October 2008
THE Defence Secretary placed himself on a collision course with the Scottish
Government yesterday when he branded SNP plans to scrap the nuclear deterrent
as "incredible folly" and "national vandalism". During a visit to Faslane
naval base on the Clyde, John Hutton also reinforced the government's
pledge to keep nuclear weapons in Scotland.
Nuclear-free
Nationalists
Norman Dombey, The Guardian, 14 October 2008
What will be the fate of "Britain's" nuclear deterrent if Scotland becomes
independent? If the result of the Glenrothes byelection on November 6
mirrors that of Glasgow East, an answer may soon be needed. This is the
biggest conundrum among a series of challenges concerning Scotland's stance
on defence if the country were to become an independent state - leaving
England, Wales and Northern Ireland (EWNI) as a separate independent state.
Defence
of the nation has panellists battling it out
The Scotsman, 26 September 2008
THE weapons were words and the combatants surprisingly cordial. The
battlefield for The Scotsman debate on defence was the Victoria Halls
in Helensburgh, close to the Faslane naval base and site of Britain's
nuclear deterrent, Trident.
Hopefuls
Backing Trident
Sunday Mail, 24 August 2008
TWO of Scottish Labour's leadership candidates have backed Trident. Andy
Kerr and Iain Gray came out in favour of replacing the ageing nuclear
submarine fleet. Kerr said a "nuclear deterrent is integral to worldwide
security". Gray talked of "planning for the replacement of Trident" at
Faslane on the Clyde It is expected to cost £25billion. Cathy Jamieson
did not call for it to be scrapped but said: "I want to see a world without
nuclear weapons."
Gen
Sir Mike Jackson's Scots defence fears
Tom Gordon, Sunday Times, 17 August 2008
The former head of the British Army has warned that Scottish independence
could have disastrous consequences for the defence of the rest of the
UK. General Sir Michael Jackson said he was alarmed by the SNP’s plan
to remove Trident nuclear missiles from Faslane Naval Base on the Clyde.
First
nuclear sub patrol left from base set up at height of Cold War
William Tinning, The Herald, 31 July 2008
It was established four decades ago at the height of the Cold War when
relations between the West and the former Soviet Union were on a knife-edge.
The Royal Navy took over a remote 1000-acre site on the shores of Loch
Long in Argyll, amid some of Scotland's most beautiful countryside, for
use as a base where Britain's nuclear submarines would be armed. The Royal
Naval Armaments Depot at Coulport, on the Rosneath peninsula, opened in
1966. Two years later Britain's first Polaris nuclear submarine patrol
left from the base sparking a surge of protests that continue today.
Anti-Nuclear Protests Continue
Charges
over Aldermaston protest
BBC News, 4 November 2008
Thirty-three people were arrested and 14 charged after a demonstration
at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) in Berkshire.
More
than 30 arrests at Aldermaston anti-nuclear protest
Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian, 28 October 2008
More than 30 people were arrested yesterday during one of the biggest
anti-nuclear protests at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston
for 10 years. The gates of the site were blocked as people attached themselves
to concrete blocks which had to be broken apart by police. Others climbed
scaffolding or lay in the road at the demonstration by about 400 people
to mark the start of the UN World Disarmament Week.
Atomic
bomb victims commemorated
The Press and Journal, 29 August 2008
TWO hundred peace lanterns floated down the River Dee last night marking
63 years since atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki.
Charge
over anti-nuclear protest
BBC News Online, 23 August 2008
A man has been charged with obstructing a highway after the entrance to
Devonport Dockyard was barricaded by a group of anti-nuclear campaigners...
Campaign group Trident Ploughshares said they were protesting about money
being spent on renewing the UK's Trident nuclear fleet.
Anti-nuclear
protest at dockyard
BBC News Online, 22 August 2008
The entrance to Devonport Dockyard has been barricaded by a group of anti-nuclear
campaigners.
Nuclear
Protest at Dockyard
Plymouth Herald, 22 August 2008
ONE man was arrested during an anti-nuclear protest at Devonport dockyards
today. Daniel Viesnik – who had come down from London to protest with
12 other members of Trident Ploughshares – was arrested for 'obstructing
the highway', after he repeatedly lay in the road.
Case dismissed:
first SOCPA 128 on nuclear licensed site
Indymedia, 20 August 2008
Newbury magistrates today dismissed a case of trespass on a nuclear licensed
site against an Aldermaston peace campaigner. The prosecution was the
first of its kind brought under the Serious Organised Crime and Police
Act (SOCPA s128, as amended by s12 of the Terrorism, Act 2006, to apply
to nuclear licensed sites).
Vigil
for Hiroshima atomic bomb victims
Croydon Guardian, 7 August 2008
A silent vigil for the 200,000 people who died in the first atomic bombing
will be held beside the war memorial on Katharine Street this weekend.
Hundreds
protest in Faslane human chain
Paul Kelbie, The Observer, 15 June 2008
Up to 500 demonstrators formed a 2,000-metre long human chain alongside
the fence of the Faslane Naval Base on the Clyde yesterday as part of
a protest against nuclear weapons.
Nuclear 'withdrawals' from Lakenheath
Last
US nuclear weapons ‘withdrawn from UK’
Michael Evans, The Times, 27 June 2008
Lakenheath The last remaining American nuclear weapons based on British
territory have been withdrawn, according to a study by scientists in the
United States.
US
nuclear weapons 'leave British soil at last' after half a century of controversy
By Emily Pykett, The Scotsman, 27 June 2008
PEACE campaigners last night welcomed reports that the United States has
withdrawn all its nuclear weapons from Britain after more than 50 years.
They spoke out after a watchdog said Washington had removed a stockpile
of 110 B-61 bombs from the RAF base at Lakenheath, Suffolk. American nuclear
weapons have been stationed in Britain since 1954.
America
removes nuclear weapons from Britain after 50 years
By Damien McElroy, Telegraph.co.uk, 26 July 2008
The Federation of American Scientists, which monitors the US atomic weapons
arsenal, said the inventory held at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk had been
shut down. The airbase has been home to US nuclear weapons since 1954...
A spokesman for US embassy in London refused to comment on the report.
“We don’t talk about the position of US nuclear material.”
International News
Missile Defence
Czech
opposition CSSD's leader rejects bargaining over treaty
CeskéNoviny.cz, 10 December 2008
Prague - Czech opposition Social Democrat (CSSD) leader Jiri Paroubek
today emphatically rejected the allegation that his party is prepared
to give up its negative position on the stationing of a U.S. missile defence
radar on Czech soil in exchange for the support of the EU Lisbon treaty
by the Civic Democrats (ODS).
Was
US anti-missile test aimed at Russia and China?
Russia Today, 9 December 2008
A consultant to the head of Russia's Strategic Rocket Forces has said
that a simulated anti-missile test by the U.S. was not aimed at stopping
a North Korean threat as Washington had claimed.
Czech
ForMin says USA might postpone radar project over crisis
CeskéNoviny.cz, 8 December 2008
Brussels - The USA might temporarily postpone its plan to install a missile
defence radar base on Czech soil due to the present financial crisis,
Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg told journalists in Brussels
on Sunday, the Austrian press agency APA has reported.
Fate
of missile defense shield left to Obama
Geoff Ziezulewicz, Stars and Stripes, 8 December 2008
President-elect Barack Obama could continue the standard Democratic position
of purposefully slow and deliberate development, according to Charles
Ferguson, an analyst with the Council on Foreign Relations. Former President
Bill Clinton funded missile defense but was an advocate of ensuring the
technology was good to go before any deployment took place, he said. "They’re
probably going to go back to the Clinton criteria without calling it the
Clinton criteria," Ferguson said. "Each president likes to put their own
stamp on defense policy."
Doubts
remain after missile defence test
Reuters, 7 December 2008
WASHINGTON: The US military said on Friday it conducted a successful
test of its missile defence system, but the target failed to deploy measures
that experts said could have helped it avoid destruction. The test took
place as the Pentagon braces for more scrutiny of the programme after
President-elect Barack Obama, a Democrat, takes office in January.
Russia
to deploy missile to counter US missile shield next year
Telegraph.co.uk, 28 November 2008
Russia will, from December 2009, deploy its new RS-24 intercontinental
missile, designed to counter defence systems like the controversial US
missile shield, the military has announced.
Russia
fires Obama a dilemma
Robert Farley, The Guardian, 18 November 2008
On Friday, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, tried to cool tension
between Russia and the United States by calling on the US to abandon its
drive for a European-based missile defence system, and calling on Russia
to cancel deployment of ballistic missiles to the Polish border. Unfortunately,
Russian and American manoeuvres have made it difficult for either country
to back down.
Why
Obama Will Continue Star Wars
Mark Thompson, Time.com, 16 November 2008
Missile-defense skeptics yearning for a fresh look at the wisdom of
pumping $10 billion annually into missile defense aren't going to get
it from Barack Obama when he moves into the Oval Office. The Russians
— along with the two men most likely to end up running the Pentagon for
the President-elect — have already made sure of that. It's a bracing reminder
of just how difficult it is to counter momentum once a big-league defense
program achieves what aerodynamicists call "escape velocity" — that synergy
of speed and gravity that lets a vehicle soar smoothly into the skies.
Nicolas
Sarkozy calls for rethink over US missile defence system in Europe
David Charter, The Times, 15 November 2008
Barack Obama was handed an early foreign policy hot potato yesterday when
President Sarkozy proposed a truce in the row over US plans for a missile
defence system in Europe. Taking it upon himself to make the EU’s first
intervention in the debate – and getting the backing of Russia, which
has threatened to position missiles in Kaliningrad – Mr Sarkozy proposed
a summit next year on a new pan-European security system, after a suspension
of activity from both Moscow and Washington.
Sarkozy
backs Russian calls for pan-European security pact
Ian Traynor and Luke Harding, The Guardian, 15 November 2008
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France joined Russia in condemning the Pentagon's
plans to install missile defence bases in central Europe yesterday and
backed President Dmitri Medvedev's previously ignored calls for a new
pan-European security pact. Both presidents concluded a Russia-EU summit,
in Nice in the south of France, with an agreement to convene a major international
conference next summer at which the Americans, Russians and the 27 countries
of the EU should come up with a blueprint for new post-cold war "security
architecture" in Europe.
Sarkozy
urges US, Russia to shelve missile plans
Mark Tran and agencies, guardian.co.uk, 14 November 2008
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, today urged the US and Russia
to shelve their missile plans ahead of a European security conference
next year. Medvedev announced last week that Moscow would deploy missiles
in its western outpost of Kaliningrad in response to US plans for an anti-missile
defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic - hours after Barack Obama
won the American presidential election.
US
rejects Kremlin's call to scrap missile shield
Tom Parfitt and Ian Traynor, The Guardian, 14 November 2008
Antagonism between the Kremlin and the Bush administration over the
deployment of missile systems in Europe deepened yesterday after the US
defence secretary, Robert Gates, accused President Dmitry Medvedev of
"provocative, unnecessary and misguided" plans to station short-range
ballistic missiles in Russia's Baltic exclave, Kaliningrad.
Living
on the frontline of the new cold war
Luke Harding, The Guardian, 8 November 2008
Russians in Baltic enclave on EU's doorstep endorse challenge to US missiles...
Residents in Kaliningrad - the former German city of Königsberg seized
by Stalin after the second world war - say they support Medvedev's uncompromising
stance. Russia had little choice but to react following its hostile encirclement
by the US and the new countries of Nato, they suggested.
Russia
fires warning shot over US missile plan
Ian Traynor, The Guardian, 7 November 2008
Dmitri Medvedev is to go to Washington next week for the first time as
Russian president, with the chances of a meeting with president-elect
Barack Obama clouded by his decision to station missiles in the heart
of Europe... Iskander-M short-range missiles will be deployed in Kaliningrad,
Russia's westernmost garrison, an isolated enclave sandwiched between
Poland and Lithuania.
Medvedev
delivers chilling words on missile plans
By Kevin O'Flynn, The Independent, 5 November 2008
The Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that his country would
place missiles in the Baltic region of Kaliningrad in response to US missile
defence plans.
Unproven
and unwanted
Peter Kilfoyle, Comment is Free, guardian.co.uk, 5 November 2008
The Czechs don't want the US missile defence programme on their soil.
Why should Britain roll over and accept it?
MPs
demand debate on US missile defence
Matthew Taylor, guardian.co.uk, 4 November 2008
More than 50 Labour MPs have issued a statement calling for a public
debate on US plans to push ahead with a missile defence system using bases
in the UK and Europe. The politicians, including Jon Cruddas and the former
defence minister Peter Kilfoyle, issued the notice following a new poll
that shows almost two thirds of people in the UK think the system would
make the country less secure.
Russia
to build missile defence shield and renew nuclear deterrence
Tony Halpin, The Times, 27 September 2008
Russia is to build new space and missile defence shields and put its armed
forces on permanent combat alert, President Medvedev announced yesterday.
In a sharp escalation of military rhetoric, Mr Medvedev ordered a wholesale
renovation of Russia’s nuclear deterrence and told military chiefs to
draw up plans to reorganise the armed forces by December.
Russia
'could destroy NATO ships in Black Sea within 20 minutes'
Ria Novosti, 29 August 2008
MOSCOW, August 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Black Sea Fleet is capable
of destroying NATO's naval strike group currently deployed in the sea
within 20 minutes, a former fleet commander said on Friday... "Despite
the apparent strength, the NATO naval group in the Black Sea is not battle-worthy,"
Admiral Eduard Baltin said. "If necessary, a single missile salvo from
the Moskva missile cruiser and two or three missile boats would be enough
to annihilate the entire group."
Russia
tests stealth missile that could penetrate US shield
Jon Swaine, Telegraph.co.uk, 29 August 2008
Russia has successfully tested a stealth missile able to penetrate the
US defence system being built in Poland... In a clear show of military
strength amid rising tensions with Nato allies, Kremlin chiefs fired a
Topol RS-12M rocket, which has nuclear capabilities, from their Plesetsk
space centre to a target 3,700 miles across the country.
Czech,
USA to start strategic dialogue next Thursday
Czech Happenings, 28 August 2008
Prague- The Czech Republic will start strategic dialogue with the USA
next Thursday as Deputy Foreign Minister Tomas Pojar will discuss security
cooperation, involving the anti-missile defence, there, the U.S. embassy
and Czech Foreign Ministry told CTK today.
Russia's
Arms Control Ripples
Greg Bruno, Council on Foreign Relations, 26 August 2008
Reverberations from Russia's conflict with Georgia extend in many directions...
But one potential casualty that causes special worry for some analysts
is the suspension of cooperation on nuclear nonproliferation and other
arms control efforts.
Missile
defense backers now citing Russia threat
Associated Press, 26 August 2008
"As Russian ballistic missiles rain down on Georgia, we should honor our
commitment to allies in Poland and the Czech Republic," Republican Rep.
Mark Kirk said in a statement last week.
Crisis
in Caucasus exposes confusion within Nato
Ian Traynor, The Guardian, 23 August 2008
The Czechs and the Poles have agreed to host the Pentagon's missile defence
system not because they worry about Iranian missiles, but because they
feel more secure by having US troops permanently on their soil for the
first time.
U.S., Israel
seal deal for missile radar defense system
Amos Harel, Haaretz, 23 August 2008
The United States and Israel have agreed on the deployment of high-powered,
early-warning missile radars in the Negev desert, to be manned by U.S.
military personnel. The radars, known as X-Band, will be linked to a U.S.
satellite-based alert network.
Behind
America’s shield
From The Economist print edition, 21 August 2008
A deal on missile defences angers Russia even though they may not work...
“We have crossed the Rubicon,” said the Polish prime minister, Donald
Tusk, as the deal was done. Russia said any country involved in America’s
missile defences made itself a legitimate target for nuclear attack. Condoleezza
Rice, the American secretary of state, who went to Poland to sign the
deal this week, retorted that such threatening language “isn’t tolerable”.
Poland
and US sign missile defence deal
Lee Glendinning and agencies, guardian.co.uk, 20 August 2008
Russia says agreement to locate base on Polish territory makes Poland
vulnerable to nuclear attack. The US and Poland today signed a deal to
site a US missile defence base in Poland, further straining Russia's relations
with the west following the conflict in Georgia.
Poland
and US risk crisis to sign missile deal
Anne Penketh, The Independent, 20 August 2008
Poland and the United States risked igniting a new missile crisis
with Russia as their foreign ministers today signed a deal to station
part of an American defence shield on Polish soil, manned by US soldiers,
115 miles from the Russian border.
Denis
MacShane: The mood has darkened across the whole of Europe
Independent, 20 August 2008
Conservative neo-con language is as useless as those who find excuses
for Putin's doctrine of anti-West aggression. Russia has insisted on asserting
national interests and defied international institutions and rules. Britain
should fashion a containment-cooperation policy but do so as part of Europe.
If not, the sabre-rattlers in both Moscow and Washington will resume their
old game.
Poland
and US sign missile defence deal
Lee Glendinning, The Guardian, 20 August 2008
Russia says agreement to locate base on Polish territory makes Poland
vulnerable to nuclear attack... A day after Warsaw and Washington reached
initial agreement last week, a Russian general delivered a stark warning.
"Poland, by deploying [the system] is exposing itself to a strike — 100%,"
said General Anatoly Nogovitsyn said, adding that Russian military doctrine
permitted the use of nuclear weapons in such a situation.
Some
Democrats Urge Delay in Building a U.S. Missile System in Eastern Europe
Eric Lipton, New York Times, 19 August 2008
“Go ahead and move on with research and development,” said Representative
Ellen O. Tauscher, Democrat of California, who is chairwoman of the House
subcommittee that oversees the missile defense program. “But as far as
putting holes in the ground in Poland, we are saying no.”
The
US missile defence system is the magic pudding that will never run out
George Monbiot, The Guardian, 19 August 2008
It's a novel way to take your own life. Just as Russia demonstrates
what happens to former minions that annoy it, Poland agrees to host a
US missile defence base. The Russians, as Poland expected, respond to
this proposal by offering to turn the country into a parking lot. This
proves that the missile defence system is necessary after all: it will
stop the missiles Russia will now aim at Poland, the Czech Republic and
the UK in response to, er, their involvement in the missile defence system.
Shoulder
to shoulder against Russia
Denis MacShane, Comment is Free, www.guardian.co.uk, 18 August
2008
The Russian response was to threaten Poland with nuclear weapons as
the terrified Poles signed an agreement with America on kinetic (unarmed)
missile defence shield bases. When Carl Bildt, Sweden's experienced and
balanced foreign minister, expressed concern about Russia's behaviour,
Moscow's response was to threaten a naval re-militarisation of the Baltic.
Moscow
warns it could strike Poland over US missile shield
Ian Traynor in Brussels, Luke Harding in Tbilisi and Helen Womack
in Moscow, The Guaridan, 16 August 2008
· US condemns 'bullying' of Georgia · Russian general threatens nuclear
attack
"By deploying, Poland is exposing itself to a strike - 100%," warned Colonel
General Anatoly Nogovitsyn. He added that Russia's security doctrine allowed
it to use nuclear weapons against an active ally of a nuclear power such
as America.
Ukraine
offers West radar warning
BBC News Online, 16 August 2008
Ukraine has said it is ready to make its missile early warning systems
available to European nations following Russia's conflict with Georgia...
Georgia
Crisis Propels a Bad Polish Deal
Joe Cirincione, Huffingtonpost.com, 14 August 2008
President Bush's new deal with Poland gives that country millions in aid,
stokes Russia's paranoia and decreases America's security. It is bad policy.
Russia:
Medvedev's missiles hard line dismays west
Luke Harding, The Guardian, 16 July 2008
Russia's new president, Dmitry Medvedev, yesterday launched an outspoken
attack on America's European missile defence plans, in the latest sign
that policy towards the west is unchanged since Vladimir Putin.
Prague
signs US 'star wars' pact but Poles want Patriot missiles
Ian Traynor, The Guardian, 9 July 2008
· Czechs to host radar but Poles want Patriot missiles · Russia threatens
military retaliation in event of deal
Russia reacted angrily yesterday after the Bush administration capped
a five-year campaign to extend its controversial missile shield project
from the US to Europe by signing a deal with the Czech Republic to build
a radar station south of Prague.
Russia's Nuclear Programme
Russia
starts production of new ballistic missiles
Guy Faulconbridge, Reuters, 1 December 2008
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has begun producing a new generation intercontinental
missile, a senior government official said on Monday, after a successful
test launch. Russia's military hailed Friday's test of the Bulava, a submarine-launched
ballistic missile that can carry nuclear warheads to targets more than
8,000 km (5,000 miles) away, after a host of mishaps that had raised doubts
about its future.
Russia
to upgrade missiles to evade US space arms
Vladimir Isachenkov, Associated Press, 1 December 2008
In comments to the Interfax news agency, Russia's Strategic Missile
Forces chief, Col.-Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, as saying that Russia's intercontinental
ballistic missiles will be modernized to protect them from space-based
components of the U.S. missile defense system. The upgrade will make the
missiles' warheads capable of flying "outside the range" of the space-based
system, Solovtsov was quoted as saying.
Russia
test-fires ICBM from submarine
The Associated Press, 28 November 2008
MOSCOW -- The Russian navy said Friday that a new-generation Bulava
intercontinental ballistic missile was test-fired from a submerged submarine
and hit its target _ the second consecutive successful test of the troubled
weapon.
Russia challenges
west with nuclear overhaul
Luke Harding, The Guardian, 27 September 2008
Russia announced an overhaul of its strategic nuclear forces and army
yesterday, in the clearest sign yet that Moscow may be preparing for a
possible full-scale military confrontation with the US and Nato. Speaking
after Russia carried out its biggest military exercises since the cold
war, Dmitry Medvedev, the president, said Russia would build a space defence
system and a fleet of nuclear submarines by 2020.
Russia
tests ICBM designed to overcome missile shield
Forbes.com, 28 August 2008
MOSCOW (Thomson Financial) - Russia on Thursday said it test-fired an
intercontinental missile designed to avoid detection by missile-defence
systems, raising the temperature in a tense stand-off with the West over
Georgia.
Russia's
Topol ICBM hits target with new warhead in test launch
Ria Novosti, 28 August 2008
MOSCOW, August 28 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian Topol strategic missile test-launched
on Thursday from the Plesetsk space center has successfully hit a designated
target on the Kamchatka peninsula, a Strategic Missile Forces spokesman
said... The RS-12M Topol has a maximum range of 10,000 km (6,125 miles)
and can carry a single 550-kiloton nuclear warhead.
Russia
'may use Cuba to refuel nuclear bombers'
Luke Harding in Moscow, The Guardian, 25 July 2008
Russia is said to be considering the use of bases in Cuba as a refuelling
point for its nuclear bombers, in a move reminiscent of the 1962 missile
crisis. The move would be in retaliation for the Bush administration's
plan to site a missile defence shield in Europe. Russia says America's
proposal for the shield in Poland and the Czech Republic poses a direct
threat to its security.
Space and Cyberspace
More
Cyber Security Regulations Recommended
Brian Krebs, Washington Post, 8 December 2008
A bipartisan commission of computer security experts are recommending
today that President-elect Barack Obama set up a high-level post to tackle
cyber security, consider new regulations to combat cyber crime and shore
up the security of the nation's most sensitive computer networks. The
proposals
(pdf) from the Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency
follow a series of cyber security breaches at some of nation's most sensitive
computer systems.
A
space race rises in the east
Leading article, The Independent, 29 September 2008
With the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty now in abeyance, thanks
to President Bush and his ambitions for national missile defence, there
is now no international regulatory framework that China could be invited
to join. The argument for some updated treaty that would constrain the
militarisation of space is compelling. The unpalatable alternative is
the start of a new competition for supremacy in space.
Tensions
increase between India and Pakistan
Mysterious
phone call brought nuclear rivals to the brink after Mumbai
Saeed Shah, The Guardian, 8 December 2008
A mysterious night-time telephone call brought India and Pakistan,
two nuclear armed countries, to the brink of war at the height of the
crisis over the Mumbai terror attacks, it was revealed yesterday... Zardari
quickly mobilised western leaders in an attempt to avert war, telephoning
the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and Britain's foreign secretary,
David Miliband, among others, who in turn frantically called New Delhi.
Britain
and US urge India and Pakistan to keep talking
Ian Black, The Guardian, 2 December 2008
Fear that talk of attackers coming from across the border could shatter
nuclear neighbours' delicate rapprochement
The United States and Britain are urging India and Pakistan to act with
restraint and do nothing that could set back the recent thaw in their
relations in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks. But a direct public
accusation by India yesterday that the perpetrators were linked to Pakistan
risked rekindling tensions.
What
dividend from detente?
Simon Tisdall, guardian.co.uk, 25 November 2008
Proposals by Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari, to create an
economic union with India and a South Asian nuclear weapons-free zone
have received scant attention in the west. But this week's confidence-building
initiative represents another element in accelerating efforts to find
region-wide solutions to the linked problems of terrorism and instability
in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kashmir.
Leader:
Pakistan won't be first in nuclear strike
Associated Press, 23 November 2008
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan's president has assured rival India
he would not be the first to use atomic weapons in any future conflict
and proposed the idea of a nuclear-free South Asia.
British Policy towards Iran's Nuclear Programme
Miliband
nuclear speech irks Iran
BBC News, 27 November 2008
Iran's Foreign Ministry has summoned the British ambassador over comments
made by David Miliband on its nuclear ambitions, state media said. The
Foreign Secretary said Iran's nuclear programme was a threat to Middle
East and world security.
Miliband
to speak out over Iran
BBC News, 23 November 2008
Britain's foreign secretary is to urge Arab leaders to make clear
they do not support Iran's nuclear ambitions, as he visits the United
Arab Emirates. David Miliband will say a nuclear-armed Tehran is the "most
immediate" threat to Middle East stability.
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