Britain's nuclear weapons are up for renewal. In 2015 the UK's Government has to decide whether or not to upgrade the Trident weapons system. Or rather that is the official line from the current administration, many would be forgiven for thinking that a deal has already been done. Despite the UK being under no direct threat from invasion since 1941, it's defence establishment has demanded that Britain retain nuclear weapons 'just in case'.
The defence issues of this century cannot be solved by nuclear weapons.
Terrorism, civil wars in failed states, climate refugees and resource shortages are the crises that will occur oblivious to whether or not Britain has nuclear weapons. And the financial cost? £97 Billion and rising. "We have no money", the Government are often heard to say and yet when it comes to nuclear weapons the budget, it appears, is limitless... Worse still is the political consensus that has been built around nuclear weapons. Just like with nuclear energy, leading politicians from the major parties fall over themselves to support the renewal of Trident despite large scale opposition and common sense making the case for it's retention ludicrous.
Why is it that other European countries from Spain to Sweden can survive perfectly well without them and at time of writing have yet to be invaded? And what signal does our weapons upgrade give to despotic states? That small countries can only defend themselves against aggression by going nuclear? Only collective security and trust can really help us survive in the nuclear age - a financially ruinous and destructive weapon system capable of destroying most of our planet's surface can never make us safe - a majority knows this, if only our politicians would listen and act....
For more information on this issue go to: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/peace
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