In this article, Jim McCluskey cites the report from the Trident Commission regarding Britain's deterrent's reliance on “American goodwill.”
Read the full article here: http://www.globalresearch.ca/britains-trident-nuclear-deterrent-instruments-of-armageddon/5428213
Enriching uranium is the most difficult part of building a nuclear bomb. If you can get hold of 15 pounds of highly-enriched uranium, which is a lump about the size of a grapefruit, and have a reasonably sophisticated engineering industry, you can build a nuclear bomb.
BASIC's Executive Director, Paul Ingram was quoted in an article about the Mutual Defence Agreement (MDA) signed between US and UK officials.
Here's what he said: “With the deepening of technical collaboration that shapes the procurement decisions here in London over nuclear weapons programmes, in a manner that stretches or breaks Article 1 of the NPT, it is high time we took this relationship and its consequences for international security seriously.”
Tomorrow the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee will host a hearing on the P5+1 negotiations with Iran. Witnesses will include Wendy Sherman, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and the U.S.’ lead negotiator on the Iran nuclear talks, and David Cohen, the Treasury Department's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. Last weekend the six-month deadline (July 20th) for the interim Joint Plan of Action passed without a final deal being reached.
The Mutual Defense Agreement (MDA) lies at the heart of the special nuclear relationship between the United States and United Kingdom. The nuclear relationship set up by the MDA is seen to be beneficial to both the US and UK by cementing the bilateral relationship in sharing of nuclear weapons technology, as well as enshrining a certain uneven power structure in law.
The Commission’s concluding report, published on 1 July 2014, is intended to inform a more considered debate over Britain’s nuclear weapon policy focused on national security, mindful of the politics and the strategic and diplomatic context. This is a direct response to the report and represents the views of the author. BASIC publishes it here as part of an ongoing discussion.
Dialogue is the most crucial ingredient in determining a future where we no longer live in the shadow of nuclear destruction. Without dialogue we will not be able to overcome the widespread orthodoxy that claims it is now impossible for nuclear weapons to be abolished. Without dialogue we will not be able to convince potential proliferators not to take the nuclear path.
Being the most powerful and destructive weapon ever conceived by human beings, able to annihilate entire populations, the nuclear weapon is a powerful symbol with multiple dimensions.