With Prime Minister David Cameron on holiday, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is filling in with the role of acting prime minister, and today issued a public condemnation of the government’s nuclear weapons spending plan which may throw the policy into serious doubt.
During the election debates Clegg made it a point to voice his opposition to the plan, which will cost over $30 billion, and was publicly mocked by both Cameron and former PM Gordon Brown for doing so.
Cameron and others maintain that the massive plan to replace a large portion of Britain’s nuclear weapons arsenal is necessary because of the “threat” posed by China, and also implied that Iran’s civilian nuclear energy program might have something to do with it.
But the plan has become even more controversial of late, as the Cameron government looks to dramatically slash government spending, and Clegg maintains that it is unjustifiable to spend such massive amounts of money on new nuclear weapons while slashing domestic spending.
Clegg and Cameron formed a coalition government after the election but as today’s comments indicate the two politicians and the political blocs behind them remain at odds on some serious issues.
RE: "Clegg Slams Nuke Spending Plan"
MY COMMENT – I hope he has good, reliable security!
What America desperately needs is its very own Nick Clegg. Instead America has a government mired in outdated Cold War thinking which was obsolete by the 1970's, spending trillions on non-existent "threats", a government composed of war mongers, plutocrats, and gutless sycophants. With a few exceptions like Kusinich they have made America into a quasi police state in which there are two classes of citizens. The greater than who can lie, cheat, and steal with impunity (cf. Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, and every Bush cabinet member including the former POTUS, and the lesser than (the vast majority), who commit a federal crime when they lie to the greater than (cf. Martha Stewart).
but without nuclear weapons how will Britain keep iran from invading and overthrowing their government.
Unanswerable First-Strike Capability.
Former Trident missile engineer Bob Aldridge -www.plrc.org-commented on the missiles to be deployed on ships in the Black Sea in Bulgaria and on land in Romania and Poland by 2015: “Whether they are on ships or they are on land, they are still a necessary component for an unanswerable first strike”. The US Navy can track and destroy all enemy submarines simultaneously (Robert C. Aldridge: Nuclear Empire, ch. 9). Minuteman-3 and Trident-2 have an accuracy of 30 meters or less, enough to destroy any hard target. Bob Aldridge resigned because a disarming and unanswerable first-strike capability leads to Launch On Warning. Moreover, it seems they think they can minimize nuclear winter effects by putting the MX warhead on Minuteman. Also, the D5 (on Trident-2) and earth-penetrating warheads (on the new missiles in Bulgaria, Romania and Poland ?) are designed to minimize nuclear winter effects. It may “only” be for blackmail but the answer is Launch On Warning.
Former Trident missile engineer Bob Aldridge -www.plrc.org-commented on the missiles to be deployed on ships in the Black Sea in Bulgaria and on land in Romania and Poland by 2015: "Whether they are on ships or land, they are still a necessary component for an unanswerable first strike". The US Navy can track and destroy all enemy submarines simultaneosly (Robert C. Aldridge: Nuclear Empire, ch. 9). Minuteman-3 and Trident-2 obtain an accuracy of 30 meters or less, enough to destroy any hard target. Bob Aldridge resigned because a disarming and unanswerable first-strike capability leads to Launch On Warning.
Well done Nick.
Jane
Clegg makes sense while the others make nonsense
The Real Reason for the British Nuclear Deterrent
Lol @ Claus… And they know this how? They know they can launch strike and they know they can track all enemy subs and knock them out simultaneously? They know they can knock out all enemy nuclear weapons and not have a nuclear winter? Lmao… Our government struggles to maintain control over a bunch of third world peasents with rifles and home made bombs. Our government is a joke. If we tried to launch a first strike we’d probably blow ourselves up.
How about slamming it in the face of Brown?
Sean
I hope that guy is in a good hand.
Jane