END EUR PE INFO News, updates and information | European Nuclear Disarmament Issue 22 | February 2021 | www.endinfo.net | @ENDInfo_ New START extended Biden must now reverse Trump’s ‘Bonfire of Treaties’ The agreed extension of New START, which places limits on the numbers of both US and Russian intercontinental- range nuclear weapons, is a very welcome development. Does it mark a new phase in nuclear agreements? If so, why is this important? Under the Trump administration, a whole series of treaties and agreements went up in flames: a ‘Bonfire of Treaties’. This was massively destabilising in the context of increased nuclear tensions generally, an aggressive and unpredictable US military posture and a global shift in power away from US dominance. US actions can be understood as an attempt to maintain and extend ‘power’ by a risky effort ... continued on page 3 Atomic Scientists: It’s still Contents 4... ‘France must take responsibility’ 100 seconds Nuke Free Europe update 5... NATO and the TPNW ‘No First Strike’ on the to midnight cards? The Bulletin of the 6... NATO 2030: United for a Atomic Scientists has new era maintained the ‘Doomsday Clock’ at 7... Nuclear Sharing facts 100 seconds to 8... France’s Force de midnight. There had Frappe been some 11... Major threats to life on expectation that the earth removal of Donald Trump from his ... 13... TPNW and the V2 rocket ...continued on page 2 Published by the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation 2 ... Doomsday Clock

White House office would be sufficient to move the hands of the clock away from midnight. This was not to be. Citing multiple factors ranging from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic to the accelerating climate catastrophe to explain their decision, the Atomic Scientists also raised the following warning about the danger of nuclear weapons: ‘Accelerating nuclear programs in multiple countries moved the world into less stable and manageable territory last year. Development of hypersonic glide vehicles, ballistic missile defenses, and weapons-delivery systems that can flexibly use conventional or nuclear warheads may raise the probability of miscalculation in times of tension. Events like the deadly assault earlier this month on the US Capitol renewed legitimate concerns about national leaders who have sole control of the use of nuclear weapons. Nuclear nations, however, have ignored or undermined practical and available diplomatic and security tools for managing nuclear The conflict that exists today is no more than an risks. By our estimation, the potential for the world old-style struggle for power, once again to stumble into nuclear war—an ever-present danger presented to mankind in semireligious trappings. over the last 75 years—increased in 2020. An The difference is that, this time, the development extremely dangerous global failure to address of atomic power has imbued the struggle with a existential threats—what we called “the new ghostly character; for both parties know and abnormal” in 2019—tightened its grip in the nuclear admit that, should the quarrel deteriorate into realm in the past year, increasing the likelihood of actual war, mankind is doomed. catastrophe.’ Albert Einstein Speedy moves by Biden’s White House to reengage with Founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein and University of certain diplomatic and non-aggressive means to bolster Chicago scientists who helped develop the first atomic weapons in the Manhattan Project, the Bulletin nuclear security must be welcomed and may well contribute of the Atomic Scientists created the Doomsday Clock to a de-escalation of risk. However, if such instances do not two years later, using the imagery of apocalypse develop into an overall policy of establishing greater nuclear (midnight) and the contemporary idiom of nuclear security then an opportunity to make the world a safer place explosion (countdown to zero) to convey threats to will be missed. With respect to developments in weapons humanity and the planet. The Doomsday Clock is set technology, the Atomic Scientists warned: every year by the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which ‘In the past year, countries with nuclear weapons includes 13 Nobel laureates. continued to spend vast sums on nuclear modernization programs, even as they allowed proven risk-reduction achievements in arms control ‘wake-up call’, the Atomic Scientists argue that the following and diplomacy to wither or die. Nuclear weapons steps should be taken to save humanity from existential and weapons-delivery platforms capable of carrying ruin: either nuclear or conventional warheads continued * The US and Russian presidents should, upon to proliferate, while destabilizing “advances” in the extension of New START, launch follow-on talks for space and cyber realms, in hypersonic missiles, and more ambitious and comprehensive limits of in missile defenses continued.’ nuclear weapons and delivery systems ... If speedy measures are not taken to halt the growing arms- * US President Joe Biden can show leadership by race - if the hypersonic missiles, new warheads and military reducing US reliance on nuclear weapons via limits deployments are not reversed - then every diplomatic effort on their roles, missions, and platforms, and by will be a sticking plaster rather than a cure. decreasing budgets accordingly. The United States The combination of measures is essential because of what should declare its commitment to no-first-use of the Atomic Scientists identify as a ‘threat multiplier’: “the nuclear weapons and persuade allies and rivals to continuing corruption of the information ecosphere agree that no-first-use is a step toward security and on which democracy and public decision-making stability. depend.” END Info and writers for The Spokesman have These will be essential and, as importantly, achievable steps described the configuration of risks as being a ‘global to massively reduce nuclear risks. One thing missing from tinderbox’, where one false move - one misunderstanding this list of requests is for the nuclear armed states to or misapprehension - could spell disaster for human life. constructively engage with the process now underway This threat multiplier doesn’t just exist within states but thanks to the ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of between states. This is why positive moves in one respect Nuclear Weapons. must be met with positive moves across the board. In their See pages 11-12 for Noam Chomsky and Vijay Prashad News ... 3 continued from page 1 ... to both re-write reducing the risks of costly, dangerous the world a safer place. Biden should the ‘rules’ from a time when it enjoyed arms races.” [emphasis added] work towards this goal. But if Biden’s unrivalled influence and to ‘discipline’ It’s noticeable that Blinken says aim is to simply re-engineer a ‘nuclear strategic rivals into conformity. Without nothing about the US’s dangerous order’ that punishes and restrains doubt, this was a very risky course, one nuclear weapons or the need to reverse ‘strategic competitors’ on the one hand which generated a ‘global tinderbox’ in their ‘internal proliferation’ and ‘lack and ‘aspiring nuclear powers’ on the international affairs. of control’. ‘Why is America getting a other whilst the US continues to plough As a consequence the ‘Iran Deal’ new $100 billion nuclear weapon?’ billions of dollars into ever-more (JCPOA), which allowed Iran some asks Elisabeth Eaves in the Bulletin of destructive nuclear weapons relief from threat, and the Intermediate- the Atomic Scientists (8 Feb 21). The capabilities, then the world will become range Forces Treaty (INF), which Russians and Chinese may well be a more dangerous place. prevented the deployment of a whole asking the same question. “America is If Biden fails to engage in serious class of nuclear missiles in Europe, building a new weapon of mass diplomacy with Russia and China and were destroyed along with a series of destruction, a nuclear missile the instead continues to talk up the risks other important agreements. Now that length of a bowling lane. It will be able posed by both states, then what course the new Biden administration has to travel some 6,000 miles, carrying a will Russia and China take? In accepted Russia’s offer of a five year warhead more than 20 times more particular, if Biden continues on the extension to New START, immediate powerful than the atomic bomb ‘New Cold War’ route with respect to steps must be taken to revive the dropped on Hiroshima. It will be able China, then what does he expect will JCPOA and INF Treaty as a means of to kill hundreds of thousands of people happen? Russia and China will meet reducing tensions. in a single shot. The US Air Force like-for-like and continue to develop The agreed extension of New plans to order more than 600 of them” their nuclear capabilities. Others, not START offers some hope, but official writes Eaves. yet nuclear powers, may well pursue announcements from the US State The extension of New START is their own route to ‘nuclear security’. Department strike a worrying tone. undeniably for the good. Resurrecting The world cannot afford the risks that “President Biden pledged to keep the the JCPOA, INF and similar would come with such a course of American people safe from nuclear agreements and treaties would make action. threats by restoring the U.S. leadership on arms control and nonproliferation” Now available from Spokesman Books... announced Antony J Blinken, Secretary of State. Blinken’s statement reads as if New START was purely a means to reduce the numbers of Russian WHY TRIDENT? intercontinental missiles rather than a By Commander Robert Forsyth RN (Ret’d) joint agreement to limit both US and Foreword by Vice Admiral Sir Jeremy Blackham Russian missiles in this classification. A Introduction by Professor Nick Grief bit of clarity on this point would suggest “The theory of nuclear deterrence is flawed, at least a bit of honesty. Blinken unproven and poses continues: “President Biden has made significant dangers from clear that the New START Treaty accidental use.” extension is only the beginning of our Cdr Forsyth efforts to address 21st century security “Few people have done challenges. The United States will use more to examine rigorously the time provided by the five-year the related issues than Rob extension of the New START Treaty to Forsyth and I am very glad pursue with the Russian Federation, in that his work in this field is consultation with Congress and U.S. now being given the allies and partners, arms control that exposure it deserves. He has produced a book that all addresses all of its nuclear weapons. those involved in this field We will also pursue arms control to should read and carefully reduce the dangers from China’s reflect upon.” modern and growing arsenal. The Vice Admiral Sir Jeremy United States is committed to effective Blackham arms control that enhances stability, www.spokesmanbookshop.com transparency and predictability while 4 ... News ‘France must take responsibility’ Bouzid Boufrioua, a senior milliary France is not the only nuclear power official in Algeria, has called on France which must be made to take to take responsibility for the extensive responsibility. The British Nuclear Test nuclear waste left in the Sahara Veterans Association continues to following nuclear tests in the 1960s. He campaign for restitution for the British said that: “sixty years after its nuclear nuclear test veterans who took part in tests, France still refuses to reveal the the British and American nuclear tests location of its nuclear waste and fully at the Montebello Islands, Christmas compensate the victims of disease Island, Malden Island and Maralinga & caused by radiation ... On 7 July 2017, Emu Field, South Australia. Local 122 member states of the UN General communities, who were often simply Assembly ratified a new treaty to ban ignored by the nuclear testing nuclear weapons ... [The treaty] clearly countries, their environment and lives and explicitly recognises the ‘polluter were also victim to tests. pays’ principle; this is the first time that For example, Operation Grapple the international community has called was a set of four British nuclear on the nuclear-armed states to rectify weapons test series of early atomic the errors of the past.” Gerboise Bleue nuclear test, Feb 1960 bombs and hydrogen bombs carried Boufrioua is quite right and his ‘polluter pays’ principle embodied in out in 1957 and 1958 at Malden Island words highlight an important aspect of the TPNW be put into effect? The and Kiritimati (Christmas Island) in the the TPNW: that even though nuclear- precise answer to this is a matter for Gilbert and Ellice Islands in the Pacific armed states have refused to engage international lawyers, but a non-expert Ocean (modern Kiribati) as part of the with it, let alone sign or ratify it, the reading of this clause would suggest British hydrogen bomb programme. treaty itself brings some important that it only pertains to those states Nine nuclear explosions were initiated, points into international law. which have signed the TPNW. culminating in the United Kingdom Article 7, point 6 of the TPNW However, this should not be a becoming the third recognised states: “Without prejudice to any other discouragement to the peace possessor of thermonuclear weapons duty or obligation that it may have movement. Is it possible to construct a and the restoration of the nuclear under international law, a State Party set of precise and targeted demands Special Relationship with the United that has used or tested nuclear based on this clause? Can those state States with the 1958 US-UK Mutual weapons or any other nuclear parties to the TPNW like Austria and Defence Agreement. explosive devices shall have Ireland, who - like France - are also For a place at the ‘nuclear table’, responsibility to provide adequate members of the European Union find Britain - like France - staged explosive assistance to affected State Parties, for a means to raise these issues in the nuclear tests without sufficient regard the purpose of victim assistance and European Parliament and European for the longer-term impact. The nuclear environmental remediation.” Commission? They should certainly be powers must all take responsibility. A big question will be how can the encouraged to.

Supporting individuals and organisations of the ‘Nuke Free Europe’ campaign have continued to meet via Zoom. They have agreed to hold a series of webinars on ‘nuclear sharing’, ‘nuclear-weapon-free zones’, ‘French and UK nuclear weapons’ and related topic in the run-up to a series of actions planned in Belgium, German, The Netherlands, UK and France across the month of September 2021, to highlight the presence and risks associated with nuclear weapons. Organisers have also discussed an ambitious plan to overhaul the campaign website and to produce materials. Donations welcome! nukefreeeurope.eu TPNW ... 5 NATO and the TPNW A recent report from Chatham House of “potential titled ‘NATO and the Treaty on the secondary effects on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons’ has NATO”. been released which warns NATO These concerns allies that “the TPNW is here to stay” are reflected not only and that “a focus on opposing the in the repeated TPNW may obscure NATO’s broader efforts of NATO long-standing commitment to global nuclear member states, disarmament” [emphasis added]. headed by the US, to There’s quite a bit to unpick from pressure non-nuclear these two statements but it is most states against signing, likely unnecessary to spend too much ratifying or otherwise time pointing out the severe problem engaging with the with suggesting that NATO is TPNW but in the committed to global nuclear rather ‘undiplomatic’ refusal of the vast and demonstrate tangible support for disarmament. More interesting is the majority of NATO member states to nuclear disarmament.” fact that the TPNW has been engage in any way, shape or form with There is clearly a gaping hole in the recognised as a problem for NATO and the multilateral processes that have logic of this statement, unless you the suggestion that it should stop taken the Treaty to this point. appreciate that what NATO means by publicly opposing it for fear of exposing The report concludes that “Now that ‘nuclear disarmament’ is that ‘everyone itself. NATO has made its position on the else should disarm apart from us.’ Such The report rehearses NATO’s public TPNW clear, it is important not to an argument can only confirm what the objections to the TPNW which amount overemphasize the issue in its overall peace movements have long argued: to: claims that it undermines the NPT; messaging on support for disarmament. NATO is a ‘Nuclear Armed Alliance’ TPNW’s obvious “incompatibility with On NATO’s side, more nuance would and will continue to be one for as long existing NATO commitments”; “work be helpful as the Alliance seeks to as the nuclear powers maintain their with partner counties” and the spectre maintain a modern deterrence posture aggressive military posture. Is ‘No First Strike’ on the cards? According to several reports, Joe Biden and eventually eliminate nuclear raised in the UK for its government to has assembled a new ‘national security weapons.” If true and if this team can follow suit. Regardless of the progress team’ that looks set to ‘review decades seriously push for wide-ranging or otherwise of US deliberations, there of military doctrine.’ Amongst the changes to US nuclear policy, then the should be a thorough exposure of the issues on the table is that of ‘No First peace movements should encourage UK’s nuclear posture, its dangers, limits Strike’. Current nuclear doctrine them all the way. and contradictions. Commander repudiates the idea that the US should Likewise, the peace movements in Robert Forsyth RN (Ret’d) has made never initiate nuclear war: the US Europe should use this opportunity to an invaluable contribution to such ‘reserves the right’ to launch a nuclear raise questions about ‘No First Strike’. efforts in his book, Why Trident? onslaught whenever it chooses to do so. In the UK, for example, there is some (Spokesman, 2020). Evidence that ‘No First Strike’ is being reticence in the Ministry of Defence It is overwhelmingly likely that those seriously considered comes from the and government to openly talk about ‘reformers’ in the new security fact that numerous figures from the nuclear posture. Like the US, the UK administration will meet massive Trump administration and other critics ‘reserves the right’ to launch nuclear challenges and obstacles to progress, of arms control have come out in weapons whenever it sees fit. This fact despite whatever support they enjoy opposition to it. is ‘news’ to some politicians who have from the President himself. The According to a report in Politico, never considered the realities of political interests of those at the heart Biden’s new team includes a number of Britain’s nuclear weapons. If Biden’s of the military establishment are deeply individuals with connections to the team is able to push through a thorough entrenched and unlikely to be defeated Center for Arms Control and Non- discussion of ‘No First Strike’ or even without a protracted struggle. Proliferation, an arm of the ‘Council for write it into US nuclear doctrine, then Meanwhile, even raising the question of a Viable World’ which aims to “reduce some significant pressure should be ‘No First Strike’ is a positive step. 6 ...NATO 2030 NATO 2030: United for a new era Rae Street Pacific this spring, while the USA is law. NATO cares not a jot for that – NATO recently commissioned a increasing its military presence in the they claim it is not international law. report on the future of NATO from ten region. The US Trident nuclear armed In the report there is a section experts appointed by the Secretary- fleet (Trident is ‘integrated’ into entitled, Women, Peace and Security. General, Jens Stoltenberg. It opens NATO) is now mainly based at Bangor But its idea of including women is to with congratulations to themselves, as on the west coast of the USA, having increase more women in the military according to the authors, NATO is the moved from the east coast, with China exercises and operations. It ignores ‘most successful alliance in history’. I in its sites. There is also mention of the other aspects of the UNSC resolution guess it depends on how you define threat from the ‘South’. But nowhere 1325 which proposed more women in ‘success’. Provoking conflict by is it made clear what this vague decision making on conflict, on expansion? Not short on arrogance, mention of the ’South’ means. Is that conflict prevention, conflict resolution, the report claims that it is a reference to asylum seekers? It was and peace building. But then it is a ‘indispensable’ with its ‘peace ensuring NATO which was involved in wars military alliance which is not going to role’ in a world of ‘competing great against Libya, Afghanistan, in Iraq and be genuinely concerned with conflict powers’. Throughout the document Syria from where people now flee. resolution even though at the end of there are references to ‘shared Even more chilling is the report on the report there is a brief reference to principles among the democratic future of its nuclear forces. It proposes solving conflicts peacefully. There is institutions of the Atlantic community’. strengthening its forces in Europe on also a reference in the report to climate You might ask yourself about these its eastern flank., providing them with change. In future NATO wants to shared values which include say from ‘adequate nuclear capabilities, suitable adopt ‘green technologies’. Yet another the USA positioning military bases in for the situation created with the end contradiction in terms. Surely almost every country on the globe or of the Treaty on Intermediate Nuclear expanding its military hardware, looking to develop weapons in space Forces’. What is omitted is that it was building new planes can only increase or internally still in many states the USA under President Trump carbon emissions? carrying out the death penalty. which tore up the Treaty. In other Last, but not least, there has never The report identifies 13 challenges words, the ten experts have asked the been a NATO report which didn’t and threats of which top of the list are USA to speed up the deployment in demand more money from member Russia and China. The whole report Europe not only of the new B6-12 states. The report is no exception. It is steeped in Cold War thinking. nuclear bombs, but also new medium- is essential that all allies maintain their Russia is a ‘declining power’ by range nuclear missiles, similar to the commitment, made in 2014, to ‘economic and social measures’ but it 1980s Euromissiles. increase their military spending to at takes an aggressive stance and is ‘the The experts also want in future to least 2% of GDP by 2024. There is no main threat facing NATO in this ‘continue and revitalize nuclear acknowledgement of the fact that decade’. An even bigger threat is sharing agreements’, which allowed increasingly people round the world China which poses ‘important non-nuclear countries – Belgium, are looking to decrease military challenges to our security’. There is Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and funding and redirecting the money to also a need to ‘assess Russia and China Turkey – to be ready for the use of health, social welfare and the climate cooperation’. While in no way being nuclear weapons under US command. change emergency. More and more apologists for the regimes in Russia This has always been against the people can see that the replacement of and China, talking up the military Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but Trident, costing the people of the UK threats will not lead to stability in the as with all the other contradiction is £205 billion, can do nothing against world. The world this report says is the report, the experts claim they are the threat of the corona virus. But, of characterised by ‘authoritarian states committed to the NPT. The NPT course, NATO would want more seeking to expand power and states that the nuclear armed states money as behind it stands the military influence’. At the same time NATO is should disarm in ‘good faith’. There is industrial complex. War is good looking itself to further expansion: to no good faith in NATO. Moreover, business. Member states should pay bring in Ukraine, Georgia, and Bosnia NATO blocked its member states from up to enjoy what the report calls ‘the into the alliance. It continues to make joining the negotiations for the UN benefits of being under the NATO agreements with countries around the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear umbrella’. That ‘umbrella’ is not a Pacific and Indian Ocean to face out Weapons which came into force on benefit to the world, but a grave China. The UK’s part in this will be to 22nd January thus making nuclear danger. send an aircraft carrier to the Asia weapons illegal under international First published in the Morning Star Nuclear Sharing Fact Sheet ... 7 Nuclear Sharing: the facts NATO isn’t particularly shy about stating the basic facts about its role with regards to nuclear weapons. The ‘NATO Nuclear Deterrence’ fact sheet, available on NATOs website, states the following:

Three NATO members - the United States, France and the United Kingdom – have nuclear weapons. The strategic forces of the Alliance, particularly those of the United States, are the supreme guarantee of the Alliance’s security. The independent strategic nuclear forces of the United Kingdom and France have a deterrent role of their own and contribute significantly to Where and how many? first, as a ‘hangover’ from the ‘Cold the overall security of the Alliance. The location of these US weapons has War’ and second, as a demonstration of NATO’s nuclear deterrence also been an ‘open secret’ for some time. the continuing centrality of nuclear relies on US nuclear weapons More recently, NATO itself revealed weapons to NATO’s overall strategy for deployed in Europe and supporting the locations after accidentally posting Europe and neighbouring regions. capabilities and infrastructure a report on its website. Here’s a run- In the case of Germany, it has been provided by Allies. A number of down: suggested that ‘nuclear sharing’ was European NATO members have initiated after threats from the German dual-capable aircraft dedicated to Netherlands: Up to 20 nuclear government to pursue their own the delivery of these US nuclear bombs are stored in The Netherlands nuclear weapon developments. The at the Volkel airbase. weapons. The United States location of US nuclear bombs in maintains full custody of these Belgium: Up to 20 nuclear bombs Turkey is a clear consequence of the weapons at all times. These are stored in Belgium at the Kleine strategic importance placed on the “nuclear-sharing arrangements” Brogel airbase. Belgium is also home region to the south of that country. predate and are fully consistent with to NATOs HQ. The presence of US nuclear bombs the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Germany: Up to 20 nuclear bombs in Belgium, The Netherlands and Italy [emphasis added] are stored at the Buchel airbase in is clear demonstration that these states Germany. Germany is also home to are closely tied into the US/NATO From characterising the combined a large number of US armed forces. military alliance. nuclear forces of the US, UK and Italy: Around 70 nuclear bombs are France as ‘NATO’s nuclear deterrence’ stored at the Aviano and Ghedi-Torre What are the risks? to confirming that supposedly non- airbases in Italy. Some of these Many people feel that the presence of nuclear armed states can ‘deliver’ - in bombs were previously stored at such weapons creates a ‘target’ of RAF Lakenheath in the UK prior to the euphemism favoured by advocated potential aggressors. Moreover, nuclear their withdrawal in 2008. of nuclear weapons - NATO is proud to material - in whatever form - is never confirm the basic extent of its ability to Turkey: It is estimated that 50 ‘risk free’. The dangers of malfunction wipe life from the surface of the planet. nuclear bombs are stored at the in an atomic weapons are all the more What NATO is less keen to reveal Incirlick airbase in Turkey. pronounced. This is why a growing are the locations and extent of the US Total: up to 180. number of people demand an end to nuclear weapons in Europe. So where ‘nuclear sharing’ and the removal of are they, how many of them are there, Why are they here? these bombs. why are they there and what risks to Dates and extent of deployment varies, Such a move would be an important they present to local populations and to but the presence of these weapons in first step towards a nuclear-weapon-free Europe as a whole? Europe can be thought of in two ways: zone across the whole of Europe. 8 ... France’s Force de Frappe France’s Force de Frappe

Commander Robert Green RN (Ret’d) followed by the savage Algerian war hegemony and demonstrating its [Extract from Security without Nuclear of independence. distinctive national identity. Another Deterrence, Spokesman Books, 2018] Despite this, de Gaulle, who factor was that France could no * * * became President in 1958, raised with longer allow its historic British rival France did not decide to go nuclear the US the possibility of France to be the only European nuclear until December 1956. This was a sharing the UK’s special treatment; power.99 month after the collapse of the Anglo- but he was rebuffed. Nonetheless, US opposition to what became French Suez fiasco, which exposed although France did not decide to known as the force de frappe angered the inability of either country to become a nuclear power until ten de Gaulle. This opposition was undertake any major military action years after the UK, its nuclear epitomised by McNamara’s 1962 if the US disapproved. The British research had kept pace with University of Michigan speech in opted for dependence, exploiting international developments; and it which he had introduced Kennedy’s their special Anglo-Saxon successfully tested its first nuclear new nuclear policy of Controlled relationship with the Americans. The device on 13 February 1960 in Response, and condemned small French, still recovering from World Algeria. nuclear forces as ‘dangerous’ and War II, also had that option. The Kennedy-Macmillan ‘lacking in credibility as a deterrent’. The French military had been conference in December 1962, In 1966 de Gaulle removed France discredited by a humiliating defeat, promising the Polaris system to the from NATO’s military organisation, and the nation traumatised by Nazi British, was decisive. It confirmed and evicted NATO’s Europe HQ occupation. A large part of the armed French suspicions of US-UK from Paris and other allied military forces, especially the navy, had been collusion on nuclear weapons, and facilities from French territory. seriously tarnished by its association ended any prospect of overt French De Gaulle did not develop any with the Vichy regime, which had co-operation with either country. On nuclear philosophy other than that of collaborated with the Nazi occupiers. 14 January 1963, de Gaulle giving France all options and relying It had taken time to rebuild the proclaimed full nuclear primarily on the threat of nuclear use armed forces from General Charles independence. The French nuclear to deter any attack on its ‘vital de Gaulle’s Free French forces, the programme became a key instrument interests’. Unable or unwilling to Communist-dominated resistance in the attainment of de Gaulle’s twin challenge the orthodoxy bequeathed and the former Vichy forces.98 Then policy aims of reasserting France’s by him, his successors sought to came the loss of French Indo-China, independence from superpower emulate him and draw strength from France’s Force de Frappe ... 9 his role and symbolism. Thus defence issues spread throughout the Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1992. François Mitterrand, President from French society, with a striking The Force de Frappe, in the form of 1981–95, earned for himself the absence of a strong protest movement Mirage IV strike aircraft, became nickname ‘Dieu’ (God) after he against nuclear weapons. This was operational in 1964. France had to outrageously declared, ‘La dissuasion, partly because, until recently, French rely on this vulnerable and limited c’est moi’ (‘I am deterrence’).100 governments described their nuclear capability until 1971, when the first of A distinctive characteristic of arsenal as a deterrent which would its six ballistic missile submarines and French doctrine is nuclear deterrence definitely work and would therefore land-based ballistic missiles came tous azimuts (‘in all directions’). Its never be used.102 The lack of public into service. The latter force did not creator, General Ailleret, cited interest was closely linked to their constitute a credible deterrent, France’s historic enemies, above all ignorance, aided by the extreme because of its small size. However, Britain, Germany and, almost as an secrecy with which the costly nuclear the submarines, especially once they afterthought, the Soviet Union (but weapons programme has been had been replaced and re-equipped only until Stalin’s death in 1953). This pursued – as in the UK. with the 5,000 km range M4 missile helps explain why the French Pluton Another central article of faith by 1993, are a formidable force. In short-range ground-to-ground driving France’s nuclear ambitions 1996, the French decided to scrap nuclear-tipped ballistic missile was was that many amongst the French their land-based ballistic missile specifically targeted on West German see themselves as ‘the oldest force, and upgrade their bomber soil.101 European nation’, which predestines force to be capable of a sub-strategic Nevertheless, de Gaulle’s decision them to greatness and gives role. In addition, the first of four new to make France the world’s fourth legitimacy to their quest for nuclear Triomphant class submarines, nuclear power was initially resisted, power. So convinced of this were they equipped with an upgraded version mainly by a strong Communist Party. that, for many years, nuclear of the M4 missile, the M45, was For example, after the first French proliferation was encouraged. France launched in 1996, and the fourth thermonuclear test on 24 August not only supplied Israel and Iraq with submarine became operational in 1968 in the South Pacific, a national their first nuclear reactor, but also 2008. A new missile, the M51, with a opinion poll recorded that 52 percent assisted Argentina, Brazil, India and range of 8,000-10,000 km and were opposed to a nuclear force. A Pakistan with nuclear weapon-related carrying up to six warheads, was broad consensus on defence was only technology. However, concern about successfully launched from Le established in the late 1970s. nuclear proliferation increased Triomphant on 1 July 2016 as a Thereafter, agreement on the during the 1980s and, following the replacement for the M45.103 desirability of avoiding disunity over 1991 Gulf War, France finally signed Despite its claimed independence, The Spokesman Journal of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation Challenging Nuclearism The Spokesman 147 Edited by Tony Simpson & Tom Unterrainer Nothing sacrosanct Vice Admiral Sir Jeremy Blackham | UK Nuclear Weapon Policy Commander Robert Forsyth TPNW Dossier: Through the doorway Setsuko Thurlow | Turning Point Daryl G Kimball | Changing Europe’s Calculations Beatrice Fihn & Daniel Hogstra | Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Full Text | Nuclear Disarmament Bertrand Russell | Challenging Nuclearism Richard Falk Rely on Science Jose Bustani | In Limbo Elena Remigi et al | Human Skill John Palmer | The Shout of Joy Mike Cooley | Renewable Energy Dexter Whitfield | Asylum for Sale Alva White et al | Stephen F. Cohen John Daniels | The Claims of Women Kate Amberley | Reviews 138 pages | ISBN 9780851248950 | A5 paperback | £6 www.spokesmanbooks.com 10 ... France’s Force de Frappe

France received US military and broad definition of sub-strategic debate had been ruled by surprisingly technological aid. Not only did the deterrence: vague, metaphysical considerations. development of nuclear submarines ... in other words, the use of a low- In France, nuclear weapons are require US assistance, but France also yield ‘warning shot’ against an believed to be the magic that keeps obtained 12 KC-135 tanker aircraft advancing aggressor, along with a war at bay. The simplicity of the from the US for in-flight refuelling of threat warning of a massive nuclear message at home – nuclear weapons the Mirage IV bombers. Only with strike unless the attack halts. This equal peace, but also independence, this capability could they reach their warning shot would apparently be international rank, and living up to targets in the Soviet Union.104 fired as soon as a country’s ‘vital interests’ were threatened… France’s glorious past – was bought at French thinking has always placed the price of the ambiguity of France’s The Anglo-French Entente more emphasis on the role of operational strategy and its Nucléaire nuclear weapons as a strategic operational relationship with NATO Since 1992, a joint Anglo-French weapon of last resort, designed for allies. At the beginning of the 21st commission on nuclear co-operation deterrence rather than use. However, the end of the Cold War century, with new threats to France’s has met regularly. This outwardly has prompted NATO to abandon security, perhaps the French psyche surprising development was driven the flexible response doctrine, and had been healed by the nuclear drug by the need for both countries to it has yet to define a new administered by de Gaulle. French support each other’s increasingly philosophy… The uncertainty citizens were once again convinced of questionable permanent membership about NATO’s military doctrine their country’s greatness. So, as of the UN Security Council, has cleared the way for some rapprochement between British Heuser argued, ‘Do they still need the especially with Germany reunified, and French ideas – but UK defence medicine (or placebo) of nuclear and to try to present a common experts doubt whether there can be prestige?’110 position on the sensitive nuclear issue a real meeting of minds unless To this of course should be added, within the European Union. France rejoins NATO’s nuclear what example does the latest French A top priority has been to try to planning group. France has stayed aloof from all NATO’s nuclear posture give to potential harmonise the two countries’ deliberations about the use of nuclear proliferators? And what deterrence doctrines. In particular, nuclear arms.107 evidence of French greatness and during 1993 there was a deep civilized values was portrayed by the Reflecting a clear decision to align comparison of deterrence doctrines sinking in 1985 by French secret French nuclear doctrine with that of which, according to one French agents of the Greenpeace ship the US and the UK, on 19 January participant, showed there were no Rainbow Warrior in Auckland, New 2006 Chirac made a speech at a insurmountable differences between Zealand, for opposing French nuclear 105 nuclear submarine base in Brittany in the two nations’ approaches. The testing in the South Pacific? In the which he said: new Entente Nucléaire became public words of David Lange, New during a meeting in the UK in 1995 The leaders of states who would Zealand’s Prime Minister at the time, between Prime Minister John Major use terrorist means against us, as ‘The leaders of the West expressed and President Jacques Chirac, when well as those who could consider using weapons of mass destruction, not a moment’s outrage about Major refused to condemn France’s must understand that they would terrorism directed by a government resumption of nuclear testing in the lay themselves open to a firm and against opponents of nuclear South Pacific. The following joint adapted response on our part. This deterrence.’111 announcement was made: response could be a conventional On the night of 3–4 February 2009, one. It could also be of a different the Entente Nucléaire suffered a deeply We do not see situations arising in kind.108 which the vital interests of either worrying setback that bordered on France or the United Kingdom This was the first time a French farce. The British Trident-equipped could be threatened without the President had publicly warned of submarine HMS Vanguard collided vital interests of the other also possible nuclear retaliation against a being threatened. We have decided with its French opposite number Le to pursue and deepen nuclear co- state-backed terrorist strike. Chirac Triomphant while both were operation between our two went further, warning that France’s submerged on so-called ‘deterrent’ countries. Our aim is mutually to nuclear arsenal was now deployed patrol in the Eastern Atlantic.112 strengthen deterrence, while not merely to ensure French Because both were moving slowly, retaining the independence of our independence but to protect ‘strategic they sustained only minor damage. nuclear forces. The deepening of co-operation between the two supplies’ such as oil and the ‘defence However, the fact that neither had European members of the North of allied countries’.109 In an attempt to detected the other showed how close Atlantic Alliance that are nuclear make this shift more credible, some this came to catastrophe. The powers will therefore strengthen of the French submarine-launched embarrassing incident also the European contribution to ballistic missiles were fitted with a demonstrated that coordination of overall deterrence. We have reduced number of warheads, with instructed our Joint Nuclear patrols and water management had Commission to take this forward.106 the implication that these could also broken down. be of lower yield. This echoed the The British Financial Times reported British policy. References as per original. See back that agreement was reached on a Hitherto, the French nuclear cover for ordering information. Opinion ... 11 Three Major Threats to Life on Earth that must be addressed in 2021 Noam Chomsky and Vijay Prashad

Large parts of the world—outside of other major issues threaten the disarmament must be forced onto the China and a few other countries—face a longevity of our species and of our world’s agenda. Hiroshima Day, runaway virus, which has not been planet. These include: commemorated each year on August 6, stopped because of criminal must become a more robust day of incompetence by governments. That Nuclear Annihilation contemplation and protest. these governments in wealthy countries In January 2020, the Bulletin of the cynically set aside the basic scientific Atomic Scientists set the Doomsday Climate Catastrophe protocols released by the World Health Clock to 100 seconds to midnight, too A scientific paper published in 2018 Organization and by scientific close for comfort. The clock, created came with a startling headline: “Most organizations reveals their malicious two years after the first atomic weapons atolls will be uninhabitable by the mid- practice. Anything less than focused were developed in 1945, is evaluated 21st century because of sea-level rise attention to managing the virus by annually by the Bulletin’s Science and exacerbating wave-driven flooding.” testing, contact tracing, and isolation— Security Board, who decide whether to The authors found that atolls from the and if this does not suffice, then move the minute hand or keep it in Seychelles to the Marshall Islands are imposing a temporary lockdown—is place. By the time they set the clock liable to vanish. A 2019 United Nations foolhardy. It is equally distressing that again, it may well be closer to (UN) report estimated that 1 million these richer countries have pursued a annihilation. Already limited arms animal and plant species are threatened policy of “vaccine nationalism” by control treaties are being shredded as with extinction. Add to this the stockpiling vaccine candidates rather the major powers sit on close to 13,500 catastrophic wildfires and the severe than a policy for the creation of a nuclear weapons (more than 90 percent bleaching of the coral reefs and it is “people’s vaccine.” For the sake of of which are held by Russia and the clear that we no longer need to linger humanity, it would be prudent to United States alone). The yield of these over clichés about one thing or another suspend intellectual property rules and weapons could easily make this planet being a canary in the coal mine of develop a procedure to create universal even more uninhabitable. The United climate catastrophe; the danger is not vaccines for all people. States Navy has already deployed low- in the future, but in the present. It is Although the pandemic is the yield tactical W76-2 nuclear warheads. essential for major powers—who utterly principal issue on all of our minds, Immediate moves toward nuclear fail to shift from fossil fuels—to commit 12 ... Opinion to the “common but differentiated Western countries seem to be well New International Economic Order of responsibilities” approach established lubricated by arms deals: the United 1974. The balance of forces available to at the 1992 UN Conference on Arab Emirates and Morocco agreed to drive such a class agenda on the Environment and Development in Rio recognize Israel on the condition that international stage is no longer there; de Janeiro. It is telling that countries they could purchase $23 billion and $1 political dynamics in the countries of such as Jamaica and Mongolia updated billion worth of US-made weapons, the West, in particular, but also in the their climate plans to the UN before the respectively. The rights of the larger states of the developing world end of 2020—as mandated by the Paris Palestinians, the Sahrawi, and the (such as Brazil, India, Indonesia, and Agreement—even though these Yemeni people did not factor into these South Africa) are necessary to change countries produce a tiny fraction of deals. The use of illegal sanctions by the character of the governments. A global carbon emissions. The funds that the United States against 30 countries robust internationalism is necessary to were committed to developing including Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela pay adequate and immediate attention countries for their participation in the has become a normal part of life, even to the perils of extinction: extinction by process have virtually dried up while during the COVID-19 public health nuclear war, by climate catastrophe, external debt has ballooned. This crisis. It is a failure of the political and by social collapse. The tasks ahead shows a lack of basic seriousness from system when the populations in the are daunting, and they cannot be the “international community.” capitalist bloc are unable to force their deferred. governments—which are in many ways Neoliberal Destruction of democratic in name only—to take a Noam Chomsky is a legendary the Social Contract global perspective regarding this linguist, philosopher, and political Countries in North America and emergency. Rising rates of hunger activist. He is the laureate professor of Europe have eviscerated their public reveal that the struggle for survival is linguistics at the University of Arizona. function as the state has been turned the horizon for billions of people on the His most recent book is Climate Crisis over to the profiteers and civil society planet (all this while China is able to and the Global Green New Deal: The has been commodified by private eradicate absolute poverty and largely Political Economy of Saving the Planet. foundations. This means that the eliminate hunger). avenues for social transformation in Nuclear annihilation and extinction Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian, these parts of the world have been by climate catastrophe are twin threats editor and journalist. He is a writing grotesquely hampered. Terrible social to the planet. Meanwhile, for victims of fellow and chief correspondent at inequality is the result of the relative the neoliberal assault that has plagued Globetrotter. He is the chief editor of political weakness of the working class. the past generation, the short-term LeftWord Books and the director of It is this weakness that enables the problems of sustaining their mere Tricontinental: Institute for Social billionaires to set policies that cause existence displace fundamental Research. He is a senior non-resident hunger rates to rise. Countries should questions about the fate of our children fellow at Chongyang Institute for not be judged by the words written in and grandchildren. Financial Studies, Renmin University their constitutions but by their annual Global problems of this scale require of China. He has written more than 20 budgets; the US, for example, spends global cooperation. Pressured by the books, including The Darker Nations almost $1 trillion (if you add the Third World states in the 1960s, the and The Poorer Nations. His latest estimated intelligence budget) on its major powers agreed to the Treaty on book is Washington Bullets, with an war machine, while it spends a fraction the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear introduction by Evo Morales Ayma. of this on the public good (such as on Weapons of 1968, although they health care, something evident during rejected the deeply important This article was produced by the pandemic). The foreign policies of Declaration on the Establishment of a Globetrotter. The Race to Destruction -- its Rational Basis by Noam Chomsky Surveying the historical record, we can find examples of societies so organised that they drifted towards catastrophe with a certain inevitability, systematically avoiding steps that could have changed this course. US society is an example, except that in this case the catastrophe that lies ahead involves national and perhaps global suicide. It is hardly unrealistic to surmise that we may be entering the terminal phase of history. The author focuses on the United States, with special reference to its involvement in the countries of Central America and the Middle East. £2 | Spokesman Pamphlet 85 | ISBN 978 0 85124 4518 This and other works by Chomsky available at www.spokesmanbooks.com A view from Germany ... 13 The TPNW and the V2 Rocket Joachim Wernicke

On January 22, 2021, the Treaty on the in World War I from 1917, the Initially, the US had a monopoly on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons victorious Allied powers then rightly nuclear weapons. An immense arms (TPNW) came into force 90 days after demanded that those who carried industry had grown up there during the 50th of 193 UN member states had them out be extradited as war the war. After 1945 it continued ratified it. As part of international criminals. With its firing range of 300 unabated, with the nuclear sector as an humanitarian martial law, the treaty km, the A4 rocket was an innovation additional business area. Military prohibits its participating states from as an artillery weapon. But due to its budgets increased year-on-year. The any activity related to nuclear kilometer-wide hit spread, it was air force, the navy and – in the end – weapons. Following a request from the obviously militarily useless and could the army competed for the allocation US government, the German only be used for terrorizing the civilian of funds. The Soviet Union under government stayed away from the population, i.e. for war crimes, not Stalin, which had been a war ally negotiations on the treaty and has so criminal misconduct by individuals, shortly before, served as a new enemy far refused to sign it. but for the first time as an official state because the old enemy Hitler had There is a fundamental historic program. This fact led to the later been defeated. In 1947 the US Air connection between the TPNW propagandistic renaming of A4 as V2, Force first planned nuclear attacks projecting the end of the nuclear ‘V’ standing for Vergeltungswaffe against Moscow and other Soviet weapons age, and – hardly noted – its meaning retaliation weapon. The V2 cities. War crimes had become the roots at the Baltic seaside village of rocket (as with its twin, the V1 cruise core of military strategy. Peenemünde (Germany), the ‘birth missile) was only used against Stalin countered this with his own place’ of the V2 ballistic rocket of residential areas, mainly in England. development of nuclear weapons. World War II. There, in 1937, a new In World War II, the bombing of With the first Soviet nuclear test in Army Research Institute had been cities was perfected, initially by 1949, the USA lost its monopoly. A established with the task of creating a Germany, but then increased by Great nuclear arms race began. The Soviet long-range artillery rocket named A4. Britain and the USA. A new aspect military, without air bases on This was a new development, namely was the total destruction of cities by American soil, relied on the the official repeal of international law: the large- area fire storm, with replication and further development of The Hague Land Warfare Regulations thousands of dead and injured, initially the V2 missile as a means of delivery of 1907 – with the German Reich as a achieved with incendiary and high- for nuclear weapons, with the aim of a member state – which forbade the explosive bombs, then in 1945 for the nuclear ICBM. At the same time, the bombardment of undefended first time with nuclear bombs. US strengthened its air force and its residential areas. When German ‘Humanitarian law’ seemed to have global airbases. It was not until years warplanes bombed southern England been forgotten. later that they too succeeded with the 14 ... A view from Germany

ICBM, also a further development of Indiscriminate attacks, i.e. attacks that The corresponding new US the V2. cannot distinguish between civilians Pershing-2 missiles were deployed in The nuclear explosive yields were and the military, became prohibited. West Germany – and nowhere else – increased on both sides in the 1950s. This is especially true for nuclear from 1983. Open and unprotected in From the range of thousands of tons of weapons. But their owner states mobile forest positions in the Federal conventional explosives (TNT) – as in refused to recognize this, and their Republic of Germany, the missiles, the destruction of the Japanese cities of entourage followed. being the most important targets, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 – By 1980, advances in electronics the event of a Soviet attack would they rose to millions of tons. Such a had drastically reduced the hit spread have been destroyed within minutes. bomb would have been able to of long-range weapons, down to Obviously they were only good for a completely destroy a metropolis like several meters, regardless of the firing surprising first strike: “Use them or lose Moscow or New York, with death tolls range. This was a sensational them”. in the millions. More and more innovation: every shot was a direct hit. The Soviet side countered this US nuclear-armed rockets and missiles It made it possible for the first time to deployment in Central Europe with replaced the manned nuclear reliably hit and destroy deep new short-range SS- 23 nuclear bombers. underground command bunkers with missiles in the former East Germany Generations since then grew up with nuclear bombs. Unlike in the vast and Czechoslovakia, with a flight time the basic uncertainty that a nuclear United States, the Soviet command of only 5 minutes. A nuclear duel was war could wipe out all higher life structure was (and the Russian one armed, with the full risk of destruction forms on earth. Governments, now is) locally concentrated in the of Central Europe. Electronic warning democratic or not, advocated the greater Moscow area. A surprise systems watched each other. A belief that victory in nuclear war is attack, known as a decapitation strike, computer failure could have started a impossible, so it would never happen. by a salvo of a few dozen rockets from ‘limited nuclear war’. In 1987 the US- At the end of the 1970s, the number of Western Europe seemed technically Soviet treaty to ban land-based nuclear warheads had reached an possible. It was about a so-called medium-range missiles (INF treaty) irrational peak of over 40,000, with medium range of about 2,000 km firing eliminated this danger. In 1991 the over 95% in the arsenals of the USA range, with ballistic flight times of Cold War ended with the collapse of and the Soviet Union. about 10 minutes. For the attacked the Soviet Union, with Russia as the In this situation, the humanitarian victim, this would be too short for a legal successor and the heir to Soviet international law of war spoke up reliable assessment of the situation, let nuclear weapons. again in 1977, in the form of an alone for commanding the type and The majority of states in the world Additional Protocol to the Geneva Red scope of a counter-strike. So victory in were less and less willing to accept the Cross Convention of 1949: nuclear war seemed possible. threat to their existence from the nine

V2 launch platform A view from Germany ... 15 nuclear-weapon states, including the USA in the lead, followed by Russia. Damage caused by a V2 impact In 1996 the UN Court of Justice (ICJ) and explosion in London declared the threat and use of nuclear weapons to be contrary to international law. The nuclear weapon states did not care. But in 2017 122 of the 193 states in the UN finally voted for a treaty (TPNW) that outlawed all activities related to nuclear weapons, including possession. As mentioned, this treaty has now entered into force, but only for those states that have ratified it. At that time there were 51 states, including Austria and Ireland. All nuclear weapon states and their entourage – including Germany – had stayed away from the UN negotiations. So far, the German government has refused to, against the will of the majority of its citizens. US nuclear weapons are still stored on German soil. With a German signature Army and Navy. So how credible is the small area is now sandwiched between on the TPNW contract, that would be claim that the warhead will only be the NATO states Poland and over. equipped with non-nuclear weapons? Lithuania. Why are the missiles not in The US military-industrial complex Is a decapitation strike against the safety of the Russian heartland? costs ten times more than the Russian Moscow being considered again? The Obviously because of the shorter flight one every year. Nevertheless, Russia is new US missiles should be ready for time. A look at the map reveals what keeping up with the United States in use from 2023. the rockets in Kaliningrad should be terms of nuclear weapons, at the same From then on, the nuclear duel will aiming at: The concentration of US absurd level of over 5,000 warheads, probably be armed again. military bases in West Germany with the corresponding costs. That is In 2018 the American government around 1,000 km away, with a focus difficult to understand, because the published a new Nuclear Posture Review, on Ramstein, Stuttgart, Wiesbaden new US competitor, China, is with an emphasis on “low yield” (less and Bitburg, ballistic flight time from declaredly not participating in the than 20 kilotons, comparable to the Kaliningrad around 7 minutes. The nuclear arms race. China considers its bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in neighboring NATO states France, 20 times smaller number of warheads 1945). The US Defender Europe Denmark and the Czech Republic do – around 300 – to be sufficient against maneuver, the largest in 25 years, not allow US military bases, as of the USA. Why doesn’t Russia do the began in early 2020. It moved through course the neutral states Austria and same? Germany and Poland towards the Switzerland. The nuclear duel of the 1980s is now Russian border. The corona pandemic In order to destroy the deep returning to Central Europe. Since stopped this marching earlier than underground US command bunkers, 1999 NATO has been advancing to planned. In another maneuver in nuclear ground explosions at least Russia’s borders. In 2019, US August 2020, American B- 52 nuclear “low yield” are required, because even President Trump quit the 1987 INF bombers flew over the non-NATO the largest conventional bombs are too treaty banning land-based medium- member Ukraine. A US naval base has weak for this. In 2020, the Russian range weapons. Since then, the US been in operation in Ukraine on the government published a new directive military has been procuring precisely Black Sea since 2017 (Ochakiv). All of for the use of nuclear weapons. It can such new long-range missiles in non- this may be viewed as protecting be read as a warning to Germany. In defensible hypersonic technology on a Western Europe or as a preparation by the German public, these facts have large scale, with ranges of at least the United States for war in Europe. received little attention. 2,000 km, i.e. from Germany deep into Russia reacted promptly to The SS-26 missile weighs 4.6 tons, Russia. The focus is on the Long Range President Trump’s termination of the with a 0.7 ton conventional warhead. Hypersonic Weapon of the US Army and INF Treaty in 2019 by deploying SS- The associated range is given as 500 the Conventional Prompt Strike missile of 26 (Iskander-M) nuclear missiles in the km. A nuclear “low yield” explosive the US Navy. The US nuclear Kaliningrad enclave. This area around device weighs only a few tens of weapons laboratory Sandia is the former German city of Königsberg kilograms. A firing range of 1,000 km developing the model of a precise in East Prussia was annexed by the should therefore be possible from hypersonic warhead common to the Soviet Union after World War II. The Kaliningrad – with the SS-26 or another type of missile from the the 1930s and early 1940s, there was Russian arsenal. still a general mood throughout Security without Will the American anti-missile Europe that a large state could not do system SM-3, which will be deployed without military defense. Today hardly Nuclear near Slupsk (Poland) in the near anyone will deny that the densely future, be able to intercept rockets on populated Germany can no longer be Deterrence the way from Kaliningrad to West defended militarily, not only in view Germany? No, this is not technically of the state of the art of weapon by Commander Robert feasible, especially if the rockets technology, but especially in view of Green RN (Ret’d) Foreword by maneuver only slightly during the the highly centralized public supplies Vice Admiral Jeremy Blackham flight. and, effective as “bomb amplifiers”, German translation by At this point, Peenemünde comes nuclear power stations and large Joachim Wernicke into view as a symbolic place: chemical plants as well as the lack of Kaliningrad is located at the end of any civil defense. Across all political ‘It is hard-won wisdom that today’s the former Baltic Sea test range for V2 forces in Germany today there has to nuclear-armed states and those who would follow in their footsteps would rockets from Peenemünde to the east. be assumed accordance on one point: do well to heed.’ Dr Zia Mian, It seems like an irony of history that Under no circumstances any war weapon Princeton University over seven decades later Germany is effects in Germany – by whomever, ‘I commend this book to all who wish threatened from there by nuclear hostile or allied. Without the to gain a deeper understanding of missiles of a basically similar design to protection of the TPNW, however, this nuclear deterrence, surely one of the the V2, and not because of the would not be achievable in Germany’s most controversial ideas of our time.’ H.E. Sergio Duarte, former UN High German military, but on someone geographic location. Representative for Disarmament else’s account: namely because of the Peenemünde, located in what is now Affairs US Forces bases in the western part of a holiday area, is home of a well ‘One of the best informed and most the country. visited technical-historical museum. searching critiques of the central The German signature under the The missile trail that once moved strategic doctrine of the nuclear age – TPNW, following the example of towards and which today might nuclear deterrence – that I know of.’ neighboring Austria, would end this emanate from Kaliningrad presents Jonathan Schell, author of The Fate of the Earth, Yale University threat. Not only will the 20 or so US meritorious occasion to make the Price: £17.99 | 266 Pages | nuclear airdrop bombs then have to be restoration of humanitarian Paperback | Fully indexed | withdrawn from the Büchel airfield international law by the TPNW a ISBN: 9780 85124 8721 (Eifel): the US Armed Forces do not public exhibition topic, precisely at the Contact Spokesman Books to differentiate between conventional place where in 1937, as a worldwide obtain a copy of the German and nuclear components. With the precedent, the state organized translation. German signature under the TPNW, dismantling of international martial the presence or transit of such law had begun. www.spokesmanbooks.com conventional-nuclear forces on or over Federal elections will take place in German territory would be prohibited Germany in autumn 2021. The Green in the future. This applies equally to Party, which emerged in 1980 as a the French and British military, result of the wide public resistance because these two NATO states also against nuclear armament, is maintain nuclear weapons. considered to be the likely coalition Incidentally, by the 2-plus-4 treaty of partner of the next German 1990 the area of the former (East-) government. Will signing the TPNW German Democratic Republic has been be a non-negotiable coalition condition? declared a nuclear weapons free zone. Or will the temptation of ministerial In the “heyday” of Peenemünde in posts be stronger than any principle?

Dr.-Ing. Joachim Wernicke is a Berlin-based engineer with a longstanding interest and expertise in technology, war and peace. He is the translator into German of Commander Robert Green’s Security without Nuclear Deterrence (Spokesman Books). Dr Wernicke’s pamphlet, Der Aufstand Der Kinder (an English translation is available on request), was widely distributed in Berlin during the school student climate strikes of 2019.

The next issue of END Info will be published in March, 2021. END Please send information, articles, pictures, news items and reports to [email protected]. INFO