With thanks to Kenneth Hutchison, Parliamentary Assistant to Dr. Eilidh Whiteford.
The SNP MP for Banff and Buchan, Eilidh Whiteford, has called for the UK Government to come clean to Parliament following the revelations that the Prime Minister knew of a failed Trident test just weeks before a vote on renewal of the UK’s WMDs last year.
PM Theresa May refused four times on Sunday’s Andrew Marr Show to answer the presenter’s question on whether she knew about the test failure before the vote was taken.
Parliament voted to renew the deterrent, which experts believe could cost more than £200bn.
SNP MPs opposed the renewal, while Labour were divided. Each missile is estimated to cost £17m, and only five tests have been carried out since the year 2000.
During an Urgent Question to the Defence Secretary yesterday, Michael Fallon MP refused to confirm the details of the failed test, whilst a US Official confirmed the information to CNN.
Dr Whiteford said:
“Whilst the Defence Secretary was refusing to confirm any information during today’s Urgent Question, a US official briefed news channel CNN on the details of the failed test mission.
“It is simply not acceptable that the UK Government has not come clean on the facts of this failure, but US press outlets have received an update from officials in the White House.
“The Prime Minister has real questions to answer about why parliament has not learned about this failure until now, despite knowing the about the failure when she came to Parliament to force a vote on the renewal of the deterrent.
“Notwithstanding the immorality and expense of weapons of mass destruction, capable of incinerating cities, the Government’s stonewalling of legitimate questions about whether the system is working properly only fuels concerns about Trident.”
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Aberdeen and District CND group has organised a rally with local politicians and music outside M&S in St. Nicholas Square at 11am, Saturday 16th. With thanks to Jonathan Russell, Chair, Aberdeen and District CND
David Cameron has used a speech at the NATO summit in Warsaw to announce that the long-awaited vote on Trident replacement will take place on Monday 18th July. It isn’t yet known whether MPs will be asked to support replacement in principle, or whether they will be asked to consent to the building of four new submarines, at a cost of £41bn.
CND analysis has shown that the lifetime cost of Trident replacement will be at least £205bn.
Jonathan Russell Chair Aberdeen and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament stated
“At a time of disarray in politics this is not the most sensible time to be making this decision. Such a decision has profound implications and should not be treated as a political football. The renewal of Trident goes against the Nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
“Rather than acting as a deterrent having nuclear weapons makes us a more likely target in the event of nuclear war ever happening. They are weapons of mass destruction that can kill millions. They don’t keep us safe, divert resources from essential spending and are based in Scotland.”
Opposition to Trident is growing both inside and outside Parliament. MPs from every major party are expected to oppose the Government proposals.
Speakers will include:
Kirsty Blackman MP;
Kevin Stewart MSP;
Plus speakers from other political, union and faith groups and music
For more info phone: Jonathan Russell on 01224-586435. Mobile 07582-456233
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By Jonathan Russell, Chair Aberdeen and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
On Saturday 27th February the CND is calling a massive demonstration in London to protest against the renewal of Britain’s nuclear weapons system: Trident.
The demonstration is being supported by local politicians from across the political divide the SNP, Labour and the Greens in Scotland who are all opposed to the renewal of Trident
“The UK Government is on entirely the wrong track with its support for out-dated, immoral nuclear weapons. A great turn out from members of the public at anti-Trident events keeps the pressure up on the Westminster Government.”
Commenting Dame Anne Begg ex Labour MP (Aberdeen South) said:
“I have been a lifelong unilateralist and have therefore never supported the UK having nuclear weapons. I would like to see Britain get rid of our nuclear weapons to set an example to other countries. However, the first step should be to cancel any replacement of the Trident nuclear system and carry out a proper defence review looking at where the threats to our country come from today.
“We need a defence policy which addresses the world geo-political landscape at the beginning of the 21st century and not one which supposedly protects us from the threats from the mid-20th century. While I can’t be there, I do hope people from Aberdeen will travel to London on 27th Feb to join the anti-Trident demonstration.”
Maggie Chapman Co-Convenor of Green Party commented:
“Weapons that cause indiscriminate death and destruction are always immoral. Those that can’t be deployed are also useless. The Westminster government claims we can’t afford to have good jobs for our young people, decent care for our older people and clean energy for the future. Yet they want to waste obscene sums of money on weapons that are both useless and immoral.
“We must do everything we can to oppose Trident renewal. The 27th February march will be an important step on the road to ending nuclear weapons.”
The majority of people in Scotland and increasingly those in the UK oppose nuclear weapons. They are weapons of mass destruction that can kill millions. They don’t keep us safe and they divert resources from essential spending. And they are based here in Scotland.
Commenting Kevin Stewart SNP, MSP added:
“When nuclear bombs were dropped on Japan, at the end of the Second World War, over 200,000 people died. Over seven decades later, that level of death and suffering might be hard for some to comprehend. Unfortunately, over that time our world leaders have developed new nuclear warheads, capable of even greater destruction.
“Yet, the damage done by nuclear weapons extends further than that. It’s estimated that replacing trident will cost £167 billion. At a time that people are being punished by the UK Government’s budget cuts, that money could make huge differences to lives up and down the country.
“Instead of punishing poor people, disabled folk, and our youngsters with harsh cuts while money is thrown at trident, we could instead prioritise nurses over nukes, teachers over trident and bairns over bombs.”
Let’s get the message out loud and clear: let’s have a large Scottish block on the march to say Scrap Trident.
Christian Allard SNP, MSP commented:
“With regular marches and meetings in the North East and beyond it is apparent there is strong, popular opposition to the renewal of trident from the people who live here in Scotland.
“We have political consensus as well in the Scottish Parliament, with the vast majority of MSPs voting against the renewal of the weapons system back in November 2015.
“The last piece of the puzzle remains convincing UK politicians that getting rid of trident is the right thing to do. This march in London should be a catalyst that gets the Westminster government moving in the right direction.”
Jonathan Russell Chair of Aberdeen and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament said:
“There will be people from Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire travelling by both bus and train to the demonstration everyone who opposes Trident renewal is welcome to join us”
Buses will leave Glasgow (George Square) at 2100hrs on the Friday then onto Edinburgh (approx. 1hr 15mins later) then down to London. This will have us arriving early morning (so that the driver gets a rest).
We leave London at 1800hrs on Feb 27th. Accommodation available in Edinburgh if needed.
Tickets are £40 and £20. If you can’t come but want to help you can give a DONATION via Eventbrite to help subsidise the cost.
By Jonathan Russell, Chair Aberdeen and District CND
On 27th February the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is calling a massive demonstration in London to protest against the renewal of Britain’s nuclear weapons system: Trident. Join us to say No to government plans to buy a new system at a cost of £100 to 150 billion.
Parliament will be voting on this in 2016. So this is urgent – we can’t delay. Be part of history and join the Demonstration.
The majority of people in Scotland oppose nuclear weapons. They are weapons of mass destruction that can kill millions.
They don’t keep us safe and they divert resources from essential spending. And they are based here in Scotland.
Let’s get the message out loud and clear: let’s have a large Scottish block on the march to say Scrap Trident.
We leave Glasgow (George Square) at 2100hrs on the Friday then onto Edinburgh (approx. 1hr 15mins later) then down to London. This will have us arriving early morning (so that the driver gets a rest).
We leave London at 1800hrs on 27th February .Accommodation available in Edinburgh if needed.
Tickets are £40 and £20. If you can’t come but want to help you can give a DONATION via Eventbrite to help subsidise the cost.
Old Susannah makes a silk purse out of a sow’s ear with some timely political definitions. By Suzanne Kelly
‘In a Pig’s Ear’, I thought upon hearing a recent piece of political gossip; ‘Someone’s telling porkies’. The story put a look on my face akin to the look worn by Milliband in this photo from August.
Perhaps the tail in question, no doubt circulated by some squealer or other, was actually about the MP Richard Bacon? Perhaps a politician with their nose in the trough was behind the rumour? Doubtless some sow-and-sow was hamming it up to give us all a good ribbing. Truly, I never sausage a strange series of news headlines as those that were trotted out last week.
But it was true; Jeremy Corbyn is now Labour Leader.
Think of all that hard work that Tony Blair accomplished in modernising and improving Labour. What if it were all for nowt? All that creative writing that got the dodgy dossier ‘sexed up’ (not in the David Cameron sense of course)? What if we hadn’t got rid of Sadaam Hussein? What if Tony hadn’t been the Middle East Peace Envoy and had restored the balance of power we’re seeing the benefits of now?
No, Corbyn and his crazy ideas have to go.
Aside from worrying about someone who wants people earning decent wages, who wants to home these pesky immigrants/refugees, who wants to prevent nuclear war, it was a good week. I had a few lovely drinks down at Café 52 during the warm weather; and a few drinks in BrewDog. The BrewDog Jackhammer margarita remains my favourite beer cocktail, but Krakatoa has the tiki cocktail supremacy in Aberdeen sewn up.
My last cocktail there was a practically fluorescent purple delight, delicately flavoured with violets. As I can’t remember the name of it off hand, I’ll just have to go back and try some more of them. Nicely done Flash.
Under the Hammer has some of my artwork on show with the wonderful paintings of Neale Bothwell and some amazing prints from Graham, legendary contributor to Viz Magazine. His Black Bag, Faithful Borders Binliner’s escapades are on display and available as a limited print. Result!
But I digress. This Corbyn business has to be nipped in the bud. Here are a few timely definitions to show why there’s no room in Left Wing politics for a man who’s clearly Left Wing.
Trident:(Modern English Compound Noun) United States nuclear weaponry deployment system kindly gifted to a grateful UK and its taxpayers, keeping us safe from harm.
“no way that he [Corbyn] would ever use nuclear weapons because they are “immoral”.”
Clearly someone who is so naive cannot be trusted to blow the bad guys up when it comes down to it. Now that they know that, they’ll be able to destroy the world before the West gets a chance to. Alas! We’ve simply got to win the last war, don’t we?
Some champion of the working man Corbyn proves to be – doesn’t he know lots of people work on Trident? What’s more important, making people retrain into other lines of work, or ensuring we can end the world? Keep those Trident jobs going; I hope the men and women who earn their living by ensuring our tax pounds are diverted from the NHS, welfare and education for this gangbuster guarantee of safety are as proud of what they do as I am proud of them.
Trident is a bargain at twice the price; first, we get to keep that ‘Special Relationship’ going with the USA. Makes me warm just thinking of that time Thatcher danced with Ronald Reagan. Secondly, it’s great at keeping us safe (even if those Russian jets which keep flying over England don’t realise it). Third – just think of the economic benefit.
There are over 500 civilians in Scotland employed because of Trident! Result! What’s more important, ethics and the world’s ecological health and species survival, or economics? I don’t think I need to spell it out any more than that. Further, our defence budget is around 30 billion or so (at least that we know about), and you’ve got to keep that growing. There may be a time for beating swords into ploughshares in the future. This ain’t it.
Foreign Policy: (English Compound Noun) strategies and values applied to international diplomacy.
You’d think the guy would have learned a thing or two from Brown or Blair, but apparently not. Here’s what Corbyn has to say about foreign policy:
“I argue for a different type of foreign policy based on political and not military solutions; on genuine internationalism that recognises that all human life is precious, no matter what nationality; and solidarity with the oppressed across the globe from the subjugated Palestinians to the displaced Chagos Islanders.” http://jeremycorbyn.org.uk/priorities/peace/
Again, there is this childish idealism that the left should actually have something to do with left wing, socialist values and human rights. He should have been disabused of this idea at one of Labour’s long ago Brighton conventions. A terrorist named Walter Wolfgang (yes, I did write about him once before) was removed from the room for interrupting proceedings under the newly created Blair-framed terrorism act.
In point of fact, the ever trustworthy Jack Straw was apparently speaking at the time, telling us why we needed to bomb Iraq. For whatever reason, Wolfgang disagreed. Of course this heckler was a life-long Labour supporter, who in his advancing 80 years must have lost the plot and thought criticising Blair was still allowed. The arrest threat was dropped, but at least we taught this dangerous terrorist a good lesson.
What Corbyn needs is a profile and popularity boost, and nothing says popular like invading the Falklands or Iraq. Hope he’s got a good war up his sleeve somewhere. After all, at first we all trusted Tony ‘Things can only get Better’ Blair and his charmingly toothsome wife Cherie with her arresting smile.
Morality:(English from the Latin) relating to what is good or bad behaviour.
If you needed any further reason to distrust Jeremy, did you know he’s been DIVORCED? Just what kind of person would do something so immoral and still think they had a right to be the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister?
No, I for one am happy to stick to Right Wing, Conservative family values.
And there you have the case against Corbyn. Old Susannah is off out now to a pork roast. I hear that some of our best political leaders like pulled pork. Or something like that.
Until the next time I take pen and oink to paper, tally ho, cheerio, etc.
Next week: Definition of the phrase ‘to go the whole hog’
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Christian Allard MSP at an AGM for the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
With thanks to Gavin Mowat, Constituency Assistant to Christian Allard MSP
SNP MSP Christian Allard has written to regional Labour politicians seeking clarity on their position on Trident renewal – after a week in which Labour conference was ‘marred in confusion’ on the issue.
Despite previously giving assurances that Labour conference would have an open debate on Trident – and that Labour MPs would vote with the SNP on the issue – Jeremy Corbyn has since shied away from debating Trident, while his party’s Conference quietly voted to restate their position in favour of a “a minimum, credible, independent nuclear capability, delivered through a continuous at-sea deterrent.”
Labour MSPs in the North East have since come under pressure to clarify their own position – and whether they agree with their newly elected leader or with the decision of the party’s conference this week.
Commenting, Mr Allard said:
“Labour are absolutely all over the place on Trident – with Jeremy Corbyn promising one thing and their party conference voting to back precisely the opposite.
“It’s clear that Labour no longer has a coherent position on anything – and it’s time that Labour gave people the North East the clarity they deserve on their own position.
“The idea of spending £100bn on useless, immoral and wasteful weapons of mass destruction would be completely indefensible at any time – but at a time of austerity with reliance on foodbanks increasing and more and more people being pushed into poverty by Tory cuts, it’s nothing less than an outrage.
“Labour’s support for Trident renewal is yet more evidence that Labour are changing Corbyn, rather than Corbyn changing Labour. First he signs up to austerity – now the party sign up to Trident. It’s now time that they finally made clear where they stand on this issue.”
Jonathan Russell, Chair of Aberdeen and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) added:
“Aberdeen and District CND strongly support both Jeremy Corbyn’s and the SNP’s stance on Trident. A major reason that Jeremy Corbyn received such massive support in the Labour leadership elections was for his long term support for the CND.
“We are greatly concerned about the stance presently being taken by some leading figures in the Labour Party and also for the misguided support for Trident by some Unions. By renewing Trident Britain would be going against the Nuclear-Non Proliferation treaty of which it is a signed up member.
“The Labour party at both UK and Scottish levels needs to have a democratic debate concerning Trident – it is not a decision which should be blocked by a few powerful individuals.”
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Concerns raised regarding “the ‘scary’ shortage of personnel to work on the Trident missile system.”
Aberdeen and District CND are to host a public meeting on Monday 10th August. Speaker, John Ainslie (Coordinator, Scottish CND) will focus on ‘The Trident Whistle Blower and the Safety of British
Submarines.
On 17 May this year the Sunday Herald published serious allegations of safety and security weaknesses on Britain’s Trident submarines.
The article was based on an 18page report from Able Seaman William McNeilly.
McNeilly was training to be a missile technician on a Trident submarine and had been on board HMS Victorious throughout its patrol from January to April 2015. He said:
“the Trident programme is a disaster waiting to happen”
John Ainslie, Coordinator of Scottish CND has stated:
“McNeilly’s report should not be dismissed as the ill-informed views of a junior sailor. One of his main concerns was the ‘scary’ shortage of personnel to work on the Trident missile system. Official reports show that there is a 25% shortfall in this area and that the lack of suitable people is the greatest risk to the safety of the defence nuclear programme.”
John Ainslie has produced a report on these and other safety concerns entitled. Substandard ‘The Trident Whistle Blower and the safety of British Submarines’.
McNeilly’s report brings together descriptions of what he saw on board HMS Victorious and accounts that he heard of incidents and problems on other nuclear submarines. He outlines safety concerns, defects, security breaches and careless practice.
Official reports show that the Navy does not have enough Suitably Qualified and Experienced submariners to operate the Trident missile system or the reactors on nuclear submarines and that the greatest risk to the safety of the Defence Nuclear Programme comes from a shortage of personnel.
An overemphasis on operational requirements, at the expense of safety, has contributed to a number of submarine incidents in recent years.
The Trident missile was designed in a way that introduces a greater risk than other types of nuclear missile. Between 2009 and 2012 fires on British nuclear submarines took place at a rate of around one every six weeks. Problems identified on a fire on one submarine in 2004 were repeated in a subsequent fire two and a half years later.
There are 13 known collisions involving British nuclear submarines and 11 incidents when submarines have run aground. There have been three major generic defects with the reactor designs on British nuclear submarines. These were discovered in 1989, 2000 and 2012. There is an unacceptable risk of a terrorist attack on a Trident submarine in the Faslane shiplift and there have been instances of sabotage on submarines in service with other navies.
The reactors on British submarines are much less reliable than those on American submarines. This means that there is a significant risk that a submarine could go into an uncontrolled dive.
The Trident Whistle Blower and the Safety of British Submarines.
Public meeting organised by Aberdeen and District CND.
Monday 10th August at 7.30pm
Unite the Union
42-44 King Street.
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It’s not often that I wonder if the prospect of Scottish Independence is a good idea.
Indeed being rid of the past spectre of the likes of the Darien disaster and the libdem idea-ocracy seems like a step to be taken lightly.
Not that us Scots are kind to ourselves. Check out the quite brutal “Herschip of Buchaine” by the Bruce and his nasty brother Edward to get a taste of what we northern folks get up to behind closed doors.
A mythical spokesperson for the Faslane Peace Camp today spoke out in support of the Better Together campaign.
Sited alongside Faslane Naval base in Argyll and Bute the camp has been occupied continuously since 12 June 1982 but Scotland’s voters may just decide to get rid of it on referendum day leading activists to question the future.
“If Scotland does vote yes, Trident could leave the Clyde remarkably quickly”, claimed Angus McPhee (not his real name of course) a long time resident of the Faslane community.
“It’s not like I wouldn’t hate it to be off Scottish soil” he continued “but where will I live and what work is there for an ageing peace campaigner in this day and age?”
He continued:
“I need a job and those folk in Westminster often forget that Trident has not only provided jobs for sailors, soldiers and factory workers but in a strange way also us peace campaigners.”
“We’ve been here on the Clyde for decades. We are in the main unskilled. Not many of us even have even basic IT skills. If Scotland is to become independent then we need at the very least a re-assurance that the likes of us will be taken care of.”
David Cameron recently told voters that the tax payers in the UK would be foolish to abandon Trident in the face of the potential threat of nuclear attack from North Korea and Iran.
“Could Korean nukes hit the UK?” said the mythical Angus. “That would be really brilliant, I could go on living here if that was the case.”
When confronted with the reality of Korea invading Scotland, Angus relented.
“Ach” he said, “I may have been a wee bit misguided actually, can you pass me a sick bag.”
David Cameron’s office today and indeed yesterday, declined to comment on the issue but inside sources indicate that there is trouble in store for those who support the Better Together movement.
Liberal Democrat Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg was similarly unable to comment on the Faslane issue but recently commented that it
“is possible I suppose in 50 years that hordes of people are going to come across in ships to invade us. I suppose we should keep hold of old dreadnought ships in case the Germans come out of the mists of Jutland.”
Puzzling indeed.
Given a yes vote on the 18th of the month Trident has until 2016 to find a new home. The new hosts in Portsmouth, or wherever are bound to wonder why they should have the right to live right next to a radioactive arms dump built to defend Englandshire from the threat of a North Korean invasion of Brighton
Clegg, for all his politically incorrect posturing did at least admit that:
“Trident was designed very explicitly for a completely different cold war world, where the main strategic threat was an unannounced, overwhelming and unpredicted nuclear strike from Moscow.”
For just the once, but just the once, I suspect that he might just have a point.
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Bruce Kent, Britain’s most well known peace campaigner, will be speaking at meetings on the East Coast of Scotland in early October. Meetings will be taking place in Inverness, Aberdeen, Brechin, and Dundee.
The meeting in Aberdeen is being organised by Aberdeen Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. It will be held in Room 10, New Kings at the University of Aberdeen on Tuesday October 3rd at 7.30pm
Described by David Blair in the Daily Telegraph as ‘The most principled and consistent figure in public life’, at 83 Bruce Kent is still one of the most radical people in British politics.
He recently supported the Occupy movement and has been Britain’s most long standing opponent of Nuclear Weapons and war in general.
At a time when the world is sliding into ever more warfare, and the UK government are intent on renewing our deadly Trident nuclear weapon system, Bruce’s voice is one which urgently needs to be heard.
All welcome to attend.
Bruce Kent Speaking at Anti- Trident meeting
Bruce Kent at Faslane in Scotland the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Base
This is the first of a series of articles for Aberdeen Voice, to be written by members of the Aberdeen and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). These articles are intended to raise awareness of nuclear issues for people in the North-East of Scotland, as a part of CND’s wider campaign against nuclear weapons. These articles will also be going in letter form to Ministers, MP’s, MSP’s, MEP’s, Councillors and other key decision makers. Aberdeen and District CND will also be making suggestions on alternative ways of dealing with regional and global conflict. With thanks to Johnathan Russell.
For most of us nuclear weapons have been a part of the world we live in for all of our lives. We can as such often put into the back of our minds just how horrific these weapons would be if used.
As part of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty and the New Start Treaty of December 2010, nearly 50% of these monstrous weapons have been destroyed. This has to be heralded as enormous progress.
This May the UK is participating in the United Nations non proliferation treaty conference in Vienna.
This is an opportunity for the UK Government, rather than to be involved in criticising other countries, to take responsibility itself by putting forward concrete proposals for UK disarmament.
The old arguments of unilateral or multilateral disarmament no longer stand, as the aim of the Non-Proliferation treaty is to stop new weapons being produced and gradually getting rid of the stockpiles that already exist. You could in fact argue that by building a new weapons system we are being unilateralist in going against the non-proliferation treaty.
The question for the UK Government and opposition parties is how active a part we want to play in the process of reducing our nuclear weapons with an eventual aim of having a nuclear free world. The renewal of Trident flies right in the face of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The United Kingdom can hardly expect countries like Iran (who are signed up to the Non- Proliferation Treaty) and North Korea (who were signed up to the treaty before President Bush called them one of the axis of evil) to not produce Nuclear Weapons when we intend to do the same ourselves.
We should at least be clearly saying to these countries if you do not produce Nuclear Weapons, neither will we. Or alternatively we could lead by example and not replace Trident which would have a considerable ripple effect.
Michael Portillo, an ex Defence spokesman for the Conservative Party, said on BBC‘s Moral Maze programme recently that Trident is no more than a prestige symbol which would not even be used if any major conflicts were to take place. Yet the Conservative Party, despite some honourable exceptions, are committed to replace Trident.
Of equal concern the Labour Party leadership at both UK and Scottish levels is supportive of the replacement of Trident. This policy continues despite significant public expenditure cuts taking place; and with polls showing that the majority of Labour supporters are opposed to Trident.
The opposition to Trident has always been strong in Scotland with the SNP, Green Party and the majority of Labour MP’S, some Liberals and according to public opinion polls a clear majority of Scottish citizens being opposed to Trident.
However, the countries of the old Soviet Union, (Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan) have become nuclear free. South Africa has set a great example by unilaterally getting rid of its nuclear weapons. Argentina and Brazil stopped their Nuclear Programmes in the 1980’s.
But failure to act on the comprehensive test ban treaty by leaders in the United States, China, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Israel, France, United Kingdom and North Korea and to cut off production of nuclear weapons materials continues to put the world at risk from continued development of nuclear weapons. There are still 19,500 Nuclear Weapons – enough to destroy our world several times over. Nuclear power stations if hit directly or if they caught fire in a nuclear strike would add to the conflagration.
and yet at a time of severe cuts the UK government is considering renewal of the Trident system at Faslane.
There has been a growth in Nuclear Weapons of a smaller size in India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea. Under NATO the United States has nuclear weapons in Belgium, Germany, Netherlands and Turkey – in breach, many would say, of the Non Proliferation Treaty. The Middle East, the Indian sub-continent and the Korean peninsula are all areas where the potential for conflict has been heightening at a worrying rate.
Israel is the only nuclear armed country in the Middle East: their arsenal of nuclear bombs, though known about, is not admitted to. A climate is being created in Israel which is very worrying and could lead to airstrikes against Iran, even nuclear ones. In the background to the conflict between North and South Korea is potential conflict between the United States and China along possibly with Russia.
In February there was good news following talks between North Korea and the United States in Beijing with North Korea agreeing to halt uranium enrichment and the testing of long range missiles in return for food aid. This agreement has been rescinded following North Korea’s plan to launch a long range missile in honour of the 100th anniversary of their original leader Kim IL Sung.
The North Koreans say that the rocket is linked to their peaceful advance of their space programme but critics fear that the launch is linked to North Koreas nuclear programme. Both South Korea and Japan have threatened to shoot it down if it enters their territory. The unexpected re-election of the Conservative Saenuri party in South Korea further complicates the situation.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has recently moved their clock one minute further forward i.e. five minutes to midnight before when they think nuclear war could happen.
One of the main differences between a nuclear and a conventional explosion is that the use of nuclear weapons would be many thousands (and with the largest bombs held by the United States millions of times) more powerful than the largest conventional detonations.
The UK, as with other parts of the western world, is in financial and economic meltdown, and yet at a time of severe cuts the UK government is considering renewal of the Trident system at Faslane. Costs have already increased from £4.5 billion to £12.153 billion, and as with all procurement costs are likely to continue to increase. The BASIC Trident Commission supported by a independent cross party group of MPs suggests that cancelling Trident would save £83.5 billion between 2016-2062.
There will be forthcoming articles in Aberdeen Voice on the economic costs of retaining or getting rid of Trident.
The referendum about whether the people of Scotland want to stay in the UK or become an Independent nation has raised a major conundrum in that the SNP have pledged to get rid of Trident in Scottish waters and there are no other obvious bases for Trident in other parts of the UK. The Trident issue will be a major issue in the Independence debate which is starting to take place, and we will be aiming to raise our viewpoint at every opportunity.
Opinion poll after opinion poll has indicated that a clear majority of people in Scotland want to see the end of Trident.
If the UK gave up its Nuclear weapons we believe this would have a considerable knock- on effect, helping to rid the world of these monstrous weapons.
With thanks to Kenneth Hutchison, Parliamentary Assistant to Dr. Eilidh Whiteford.
