The Logic Of Trident
Posted February 8th, 2007 by quarsan
Can anyone see the logic in this answer?
Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of the implications of the UK's plans for the replacement of Trident for the negotiations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty on nuclear disarmament.
Dr. Howells: The Government are strongly committed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which is the cornerstone of the nuclear non-proliferation regime. The White Paper on the Future of the United Kingdom's Nuclear Deterrent makes clear that renewing our minimum nuclear deterrent capability is fully consistent with all our international obligations, including under the NPT. It is also consistent with our continuing commitment to work towards a safer world in which there is no requirement for nuclear weapons.
Howells appears to say:
1. We're committed to non proliferation
2. Buying more nukes is cool
3. Nukes make the world safer
4. A safer world means we need no nukes
It isn't 'Independent'; it's
It isn't 'Independent'; it's US conditional and in reality it is the price to be paid for a continued 'Permanent Member' Security Council seat. As such, our NuLab peace-lovers (and TPTB generally)regard it as 'non-negotiable'. My guess is that all this NPT diversionary waffle is in deference to the historical (and in some cases current) membership of most of the present cabinet of CND. Many were staunch supporters of the Greenham Common and other such anti-nuclear protests through the early eighties (Oh the pleasures of opposition eh?)
Sabretache Blog
Simple; non-proliferation is
Simple; non-proliferation is achieved by.. er, proliferation...
Tis a strange world in which we live..... I wonder if they actually believe it themselves? I mean if they are lying then that is unacceptable, but if they actually believe it we are totally buggered...
He said what? Anyone else
He said what? Anyone else confused?
Obviously, us normal citizens don't understand the complexities involved here... that will be why we and our elected representatives aren't getting a vote on this subject.
Well, remember the Houston
Well, remember the Houston Manifesto -- we citizens and nationals are too stupid to help decide such things and that we should leave it to smart folk like Donald Rumsfeld?
Plenty of resources
Plenty of resources here.
http://www.basicint.org/index.htm
I think he's saying that
I think he's saying that replacement with equivalent capacity for mass destruction is not proliferation. Expanding capacity for mass destruction would be proliferation, but replacement isn't expansion.