MAY 2011
The UK will remain a nuclear weapon state, even if it has no operational or stockpiled nuclear weapons or means of delivering them, for as long as the NPT remains in existence. To alter this position, extraordinary legal, political and practical measures would have to be instituted to convince the international community that such a change is genuine and absolute.
MAY 2011
We benefit from the collective security arrangements of the North Atlantic Alliance including a framework of deterrence extended from the US to its European allies. As a result, the future risk of the UK becoming engaged in conflict remains very low. However, we know how unpredictable the international security environment can turn out to be. Looking ahead several decades we could be surprised by new and unforeseen threats; thus, we have no objective justification for seeking major changes today in the collective security that our NATO membership provides.
APRIL 2011
Advocates of Trident replacement argue that the core reason is to deter other states that possess nuclear weapons from engaging in nuclear blackmail. However this does not represent the whole picture as the historical record does not support this view.
MARCH 2011
British nuclear weapons have never had credible independent military value. They were acquired and have been maintained as an expensive exercise in political and diplomatic prestige; primarily to impress and influence allies rather than deter adversaries. Whether that approach was ever worthwhile is questionable, but it is certainly no longer valid.
The first annual NPT Preparatory Committee in the 2015 round begins today. With a full work plan agreed in May 2010, delegates have a varied agenda, but it seems likely that Iran’s nuclear programme will form a shadow over discussions in Vienna.
About 50 participants – representatives of Gulf states and experts from the region, and U.S. and European experts and officials, exchanged views on Nuclear Non-Proliferation in the Gulf during a conference on March 21st and 22nd. The workshop highlighted a number of themes, including: justice and rights, disarmament, universality and the health of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and Iran.
Knives are out in the initial skirmishes over the fiscal 2013 funding for the nuclear weapons complex in the U.S., as a key appropriations committee meets this week.