Nuclear Weapons

Let's cut Trident, save ourselves a fortune and make the world a safer place

Posted by Louise Edge — 5 May 2010 at 12:20pm - Comments

Edinburgh Greenpeace members with local MP Mark Lazarowicz

Over the last six weeks Greenpeace campaigners and active supporters have been energetically campaigning to raise the level of debate about proposals to spend £97bn on new nuclear weapons.

Together we’ve been lobbying candidates, writing to newspapers, polling people on the streets and doing much, much more behind the scenes - helping to make nuclear weapons an election issue for the first time in decades.

Article tagged as: ban ki-moon, disarmament, NPT, nuclear weapons, peace, trident

The Times - are they a changing?

Posted by jossc — 21 April 2010 at 3:08pm - Comments

What interesting times we're living in. The unexpected Lib-Dem surge has made this election impossible to call, and at the same time forced both Labour and the Tories to debate questions which they'd far rather ignore. How do they intend to pay down our frighteningly large national debt, for example?

Nick Clegg put the spotlight squarely on Trident in last week's leaders' debate, arguing that £100bn to replace a Cold War relic that has no military value makes little sense at the best of times, let alone when we're facing financial meltdown.

Article tagged as: election 2010, nuclear weapons, trident

Alistair McGowan: Surely there must be better things to do with £97bn than blow up the world?

Posted by jossc — 15 April 2010 at 4:29pm - Comments

In the latest addition to our Cut Trident video wall, comedian and impressionist extraordinaire Alistair McGowan muses on alternative ways to spend the £97bn that the government is currently planning to blow on new nuclear weapons.

Article tagged as: alistair mcgowan, nuclear weapons, trident, videos

Trident: the elephant in the cuts 'debating room'

Posted by Louise Edge — 8 April 2010 at 4:53pm - Comments

Cuts, cuts, cuts! – the papers are full of debate about the budget, whether it was radical enough, what cuts different political parties are going to make if they get elected, what should be protected, what should be axed, when they should act…

Yet so far our politicians are missing the easiest cut of all. Cutting plans to waste money on new nuclear weapons which, as last year's In the Firing Line investigation revealed, will cost UK taxpayers a shocking £97 billion over the next 30 years.

Article tagged as: budget, nuclear weapons, trident

Nukes out of Europe - the Cold War is Over

Posted by jossc — 31 March 2010 at 2:56pm - Comments

Before sun-up yesterday morning a Greenpeace team scaled the mesh and barbed wire fence surrounding the US Air Force base at Kleine Brogel in Belgium.

Their mission? To block the runway and prevent nuclear capable F-16 bombers taking off for their morning training session.

Article tagged as: belgium, NATO, nuclear weapons

Reduce nuclear arms, set an example

Posted by jossc — 22 March 2010 at 4:38pm - Comments

Sandra Butcher, senior program coordinator, international secretariat, Pugwash. This article first appeared in Comment is Free on Monday 22 March.

Gordon Brown told the Foreign Press Association in London on Friday that he would highlight the upcoming "moments of opportunity and challenge". He said we "must now urgently do more to build upon that brief moment of collective international will", and he reminded us that "global problems need global solutions".

Despite this rhetoric, and earlier UK statements promoting the ultimate goal of a nuclear weapons-free world, in reality Brown's comments on nuclear weapons were tepid, sadly leaving him in some ways behind the Tory party lines as discussed by shadow foreign minister David Lidington last week at the Royal Society. There was certainly no sign that Brown intends to encourage his government to show transformative leadership in this area.

Article tagged as: global zero, nuclear weapons, obama, peace, trident

Army chief sees no need to replace Trident

Posted by Louise Edge — 11 March 2010 at 2:54pm - Comments

Trident: replacement costs are spiralling out of control

Former chief of defence staff, Lord Guthrie, said last night that the UK should consider cutting plans to replace the Trident nuclear missile system and build the UK’s largest ever aircraft carriers.

In a speech at the centre-right thinktank the Centre for Policy Studies, he said there was a gaping hole at the heart of Britain's military budget which was "too big to massage, to trim, to rely on efficiency savings and prayer". Britain, he added, faced a "moment of decision" in shaping a new defence strategy.

Article tagged as: nuclear weapons, peace, strategic defence review, trident

Trident: wot no parliamentary debate?

Posted by Louise Edge — 16 July 2009 at 1:43pm - Comments

In recent months it has become increasingly clear that the UK has a massive hole in its national budget and whoever comes to power after the next election is going to have to slash government spending. The debate about what should be cut has just begun, but already emerging at the top of many people's lists (certainly mine) is the planned £76bn replacement of the Trident nuclear weapons system.

Article tagged as: disarmament, nuclear weapons, peace, politics, trident

Promising signs on the road to nuclear disarmament

Posted by Louise Edge — 7 July 2009 at 5:50pm - Comments

Two promising developments today...

First up Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev signalled their intention to reduce the number of US and Russian nuclear warheads to 1,500-1,675.

Okay, each side still have enough bombs to destroy the Earth several times over. Plus the agreement only deals with "deployed strategic" weapons, leaving out the thousands of nuclear weapons deemed "non-strategic" or "non-deployed". But coming after years of standoff the fact the two countries are back at the negotiating table is undoubtedly GOOD NEWS.

Article tagged as: disarmament, nuclear weapons, peace, trident

G20: Obama still finds time for historic US/Russia nuclear arms reduction plan

Posted by Louise Edge — 2 April 2009 at 4:00pm - Comments

Barack Obama: copywrite SEIU International

During his election campaign President Obama placed a high emphasis on dealing with one of the greatest threats we all face - reducing the vast numbers of nuclear missiles held by both Russia and the United States.

As he put it in his inauguration speech "With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat" In response to an arms control survey he was more specific – "I will not authorize the development of new nuclear weapons. And I will make the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons worldwide a central element of U.S. nuclear policy."

Article tagged as: barack obama, dmitri medvedev, G20, missile defence, nuclear weapons

Greenpeace UK