Remembering War
and preparing for a civilised world
Nuclear Weapons
Nuclear War
The UK plans and prepares to fight a nuclear war
TRIDENT IS A WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION.
Britain is planning to spend vast sums of money updating its nuclear weapons, the Trident system which primarily consist of nuclear missiles permanently at sea on nuclear powered submarines.
No imaginable threat can justify preparing to annihilate cities make entire continents uninhabitable, cause long-term environmental devastation and hasten the extinction of the human race. Nuclear weapons are a threat far greater, but far more manageable, than climate change. (You can read the evidence of an undisputed expert, Daniel Ellsberg. See below.)
Each UK Trident submarine carries destructive power over 200 times greater than the bombs that destroyed the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Nuclear bombs are not simply astonishingly explosive weapons that destroy and cause fire storms over huge areas, they also release radio-active debris which can emit lethal or genetically deforming radiation for years, even centuries.
Does Britain need nuclear weapons?
Over 190 countries do not have nuclear weapons. What and whom are we afraid of?
Our nuclear weapons did not deter Argentina from trying to seize the British Falkland Islands in 1982. They cannot deter suicidal terrorists. No potential invader (who could that possibly be?) wants to use nuclear weapons against us because what use would a Britain that had become a radio-active wilderness be to them?
Defence is best achieved through international co-operation and trade. That’s how we have overcome the threats from our former enemies: Spain, Holland, France, Germany and others. They do not co-operate with us because of fear of annihilation. Nuclear weapons, like castles, are relics of of outmoded thinking on defence and have no place in the modern world.
Now, the last thing we need is the threatened destruction of humanity. Today we need to co-operate to deal with environmental and humanitarian crises that call for our attention.
David Roberts
For more information see http://www.cnduk.org/information/briefings/trident-briefings
Click her for demonstration details.
David Roberts
26 February 2016. Updated 3 December 2018.
Evidence. What are the facts about nuclear weapons and nuclear war?
You can read the evidence of the dangers and consequences of nuclear war by an undisputed expert, a former nuclear war planner and advisor to US Presidents, Daniel Ellsberg.
His book is The Doomsday Machine - Confessions of a nuclear war planner. It is published by Bloomsbury.
Cost to UK of nuclear weapons 2018
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Manufacturing four submarines to replace our current Trident nuclear submarines – £31 billion
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Contingency fund in anticipation of cost over-run – £10 billion
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Missile life extension programme to keep our current nuclear missiles working longer – £350 million
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Replacement warheads – £4 billion
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Infrastructure capital costs – £4 billion
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Decommissioning existing nuclear submarines and warheads– £13 billion
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Total more than £62 billion
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Year on year running costs many more billions
This is in a country which appears to be running out of money to fund key services.