Nuclear weapons

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is ready to enter negotiations over his country’s nuclear weapons without any preconditions, announced former US president Jimmy Carter after a three-day visit to Pyongyang at the end of April. “The sticking point, and it’s a big one, is that they won’t give up their nuclear programme without some kind of security guarantee from the US,” wrote Carter, who was accompanied by three fellow “Elders”: former president of Finland, Martti Ahtisaari; former prime…

Four years ago the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP), in coalition with the Greens, formed a minority Scottish government. Its manifesto and campaign literature had prominently declared opposition to the Trident nuclear weapon system.

After the Westminster government authorised design work for the replacement of Trident submarines, the Scottish parliament answered with a resolution calling upon the UK government not to replace Trident.

Then, in October 2007, the Scottish…

On 29 March, five “Disarm Now Plowshares” peace activists received jail sentences at Tacoma federal courthouse, Washington state, USA. Anne Montgomery, Bill Bichsel, Lynne Greenwald, Steve Kelly and Susan Crane (aged from 60 to 83), were ordered to pay $5,300 each, as well as between six and 15 months in prison, plus a year’s supervised release. The five were arrested inside the US naval base Kitsap-Bangor in Washington state in November 2009. They had cut through fences around the Trident…

After several years of the Faslane peace camp maintaining not much more than just a token presence, the campers have decided to start a drive towards bringing it back to life in time for the thirtieth anniversary in June.

There have been several small events just with friends and associates, starting with a communal rebuilding on 1 January and several clean up days. The momentum of progress has been steady and greater than expected, and the camp is now busy and active once more…

CND has never and will never advocate military spending.

What we have done is explain the impact that replacing the Trident nuclear weapons system will have on jobs in the defence sector.

Why have we done this? To explode the myth that Trident is good for jobs. As the controversial briefing Trident, jobs and the UK economy was aimed at a trade union audience, which is understandably most concerned about the jobs issue, we thought it was right to spell out in full…

The ‘Teutates’ agreement was signed by David Cameron and President Sarkozy in November and presented as an exercise in military economy. We were told that we and the French have similar needs in the ‘stewardship’ of our nuclear arsenals, and that sharing research facilities will save expensive duplication. What was not stressed was that this treaty commits both nations to undertake a 50-year programme of cooperation on nuclear weapons technology at a new hydrodynamics research facility known…

The UK nuclear future

The current UK nuclear force involves maintaining only one submarine at sea at any time, equipped with half its maximum quota of missiles. This situation worries France because it allows for the real possibility of a disarmament process in the UK.

This is not only a matter of warheads but also a matter of doctrine. The policy of nuclear deterrence dictates that the “security” of the country is to be preserved thanks to the ability to make an instant…

A new book, Trident and International Law: Scotland’s Obligations was launched on 1 February. The launch took place at the Scottish parliament and was hosted by Bill Kidd MSP. Edited by Rebecca Johnson and Angie Zelter, the book is a project of the Acronym Institute, Edinburgh Peace and Justice Centre and Trident Ploughshares. The eminent judges and lawyers writing in the book, review the arguments for the illegality of nuclear weapons and support Scotland’s right to demand the disarmament…

An All-Wales Palestine Network has been set up following a meeting with Jill Evans, MEP. It is thought that an all-Wales group can provide more “clout” than local groups. The purpose of this Network is action. No meetings, no chat, no structure. Concerted action only. Contact Pippa Bartolotti pippa@pippa-bartolotti.co.uk

CND Cymru is working flat out on making the links between public spending cuts and the atrocity of a Trident replacement that is going ahead…

In its defence review in October, the British government announced that it would postpone the crucial “main gate” decision to replace Trident until 2016 – after the next general election. However, through a freedom of information request Greenpeace learned in mid-January that in the “assessment phase” over the next four years the ministry of defence plan to place orders for several items ahead of the main gate decision.
These “long lead” items for the first submarine include elements…

Last year, the Conservative chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne announced that any replacement of the Trident nuclear missile system would have to come out of a reduced MOD budget. CND responded with the report Trident, Jobs and the UK Economy which argued that Trident replacement would therefore lead to the loss of other defence sector jobs. Peace News praised the report (PN 2526) because it recommended the conversion of Aldermaston and Barrow to work on disarmament and production of…

In early December, members of Trident Ploughshares, Helensburgh CND and the Faslane Peace Camp braved freezing temperatures to hold a vigil at the gates of Faslane Naval Base in solidarity with the five members of the Disarm Now Plowshares group on trial in Tacoma, Washington, USA.

The five members of the Disarm Now group entered the US Navy’s Strategic Weapons Facility, Pacific (SWFPAC) on 2 November, 2009 in a symbolic act intended to bring light to the immoral and illegal…

In December a delegation to the Scottish Parliament met Bruce Crawford, minister for Parliamentary Business in the Scottish Government, to hand in an open letter to the first minister. This was a follow-up to the Scottish Government’s response to the report from parliament’s Working Group on Scotland Without Nuclear Weapons.

The letter was compiled by Edinburgh Peace & Justice Centre, Faslane Weekly Vigil, Greenpeace, Helensburgh CND, The Institute for Law and Peace,…

In a surprising reversal of previous propaganda, top Israeli officials have downgraded the nuclear threat from Iran. This was almost certainly because of the impact on Iran of a dangerous computer virus believed to have been developed by Israel and the US.

Israeli deputy prime minister Moshe Yaalon, known as a hawk on security matters, said on 29 December that because Iran’s nuclear programme was suffering “a number of technological challenges and difficulties”, “we cannot talk…

Scottish CND discussed the next stages in the campaign against Trident renewal at their AGM on 12 November.

SCND Chair Alan Mackinnon argued that taking Trident replacement along with the military spending on the war in Afghanistan the UK is spending £7bn per annum that could be diverted elsewhere at a time of deep cuts to social services, so there are real possibilities for lobbying disaffected Lib Dems and raising Trident replacement on the political agenda. Alan also described how…