No we shouldn't have nuclear weapons, because they are as much use as a chocolate teapot. Out of interest, how does having Trident prevent a repeat of the Falklands? Either we could use it against a country without a nuclear capability....or we could threaten to use it against a country without a nuclear capability........so just another instance of the UK playing the playground bully again. Care to describe the consequences if Argentina called our bluff and we nuked them just because we can, as the Americans did to Hiroshima and again at Nagasaki....to make a point to the Russians, not to the Japanese.........much like me going to Wick to kick the crap out of a punter there in order to make a point to somebody in Lybster. And care to make a guess as to the reaction of the 180 odd countries in the UN who don't have nuclear weapons but do have resources the UK might covet? Or do you think that is a good use of nuclear weapons, as a threat against countries which don't have any? Trident has been described by former Vulcan squadron commander (the UK’s original nuclear deterrent) and current vice-president of CND, Air Commodore Alastair Mackie, as Britain’s
“stick-on hairy chest” which implies more for show than anything else
... so are you serious when you say protects us,our ex-colonies, protectorates and the commonwealth......... really?I had intended to summarise the content of the article, but decided that there was too much detail and links to fit in in precis form........so it is here
http://wingsoverscotland.com/the-chocolate-teapot/For those of you who won't read Wings on principle, (although the article wasn't written by the Rev Stu), you are missing a reasoned argument, with links to unbiased material, as to why Trident is a waste of money and simply offers us a false sense of security , which would be just as well served, by doing what the USA would prefer we did........ie sheltering under the US nuclear umbrella, (as we would have to
anyway if the nuclear option was ever initiated by any country with more than 40 bases which could release nuclear weapons.....like Russia), instead of pretending our pretty pathetic "independent" nuclear deterrent was of any real use if ever push came to shove, and pump our finite MOD resources instead into our conventional forces, which currently, in feet on the ground terms, consist of fewer members than the SNP does and which are woefully badly equipped. Think aircraft carriers sans aircraft to carry, for example. The UK would be a lot better off if it stopped living in its imperial past and embraced its 21st century reality....which is as a small, relatively unimportant, nearly bankrupt country struggling to keep its own UK family together and with better things to spend its money on than an extremely expensive cosmetic stick-on hairy chest so that it can pretend to be as macho as it was in the 18th century.
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