in 1968 I was a 24 year old of Tennant
navigating strike jets from an aircraft
carrier
I was among four of the best crews in my
squadron and we were given the honor to
be a nuclear crew with a top-secret
security clearance the buzz intensified
when we were told what a huge
responsibility this was we were being
entrusted with the last are playing a
part the last-ditch defense of Great
Britain our target was a Soviet military
air base outside Leningrad formally
subpoenas birth after we had planned how
to attack it we were told not to discuss
it we obeyed and proudly celebrated
initiation into this elite within an
elite after a few years I switched to
anti-submarine helicopters our slow
lightweight torpedoes could not catch
Soviet nuclear submarines so we were
given a nuclear depth bomb unlike my
strike jet my helicopter was too slow to
escape the detonation I realized that
this would be a suicide mission when I
complained my leaders
my leaders reassured me that we would
probably never have to use it besides I
didn’t want to cut short a promising
career did I I fell silent but doubt set
here in 1978 my silence was rewarded as
a newly promoted commander in the
Ministry of Defence in London assisting
an Admiral responsible for advising on
nuclear policy mrs. Thatcher became
prime minister and she wanted Trident an
American nuclear-armed missile system
launched from huge militarily useless
submarines my Admiral warned that it’s
it was far too destructive for Britain’s
needs and its massive cost would mean
cuts in warships that were militarily
useful mrs. Thatcher drove the Trident
decision through then sure enough her
government announced warship cuts to pay
for it so I applied for redundancy my
application was approved one week into
the 1982 Falklands War between Britain
and Argentina I had to stay on until
after we had won and I had handed over
my job which was running a forty strong
intelligence team in the command bunker
outside London that war was a close-run
thing some of our ships were sunk and
colleagues killed if an aircraft carrier
or troop ship had been taken out we
could have faced defeat what would mrs.
Thatcher have done before the war she
was the most unpopular British Prime
minister in history now her political
career at stake she became the Iron Lady
after I left the Navy I was reliably
informed that there had been a
top-secret contingency plan to move the
patrolling British nuclear-armed
submarine
within range of Argentina that raised
the nightmare for me of a desperate
British leader with nuclear weapons and
the shameful possibility of our
submariners being ordered to commit a
pointless war crime after all British
nuclear weapons had not deterred
Argentina’s president general Galtieri
from invading the Falkland Islands with
victory in his grasp what a nuclear
threat have even been believed let alone
worked less than two years later my
beloved aunt and mentor Hilda Morel was
murdered she was an anti-nuclear
campaigner and the police did not
investigate her bizarre murder properly
I received information from several
reliable sources
that agents of the British security
service mi5 had been involved outraged I
felt betrayed by my beloved country’s
corrupt government my support for
nuclear deterrence collapsed with the
Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War
I now know that nuclear deterrence is an
ineffective
unlawful and utterly immoral strategy to
prevent nuclear war let’s look at three
aspects of nuclear deterrence first does
it in fact prevent war just because
World War three hasn’t broken out yet
doesn’t mean that nuclear deterrence has
prevented it arch-rivals India and
Pakistan are into a nuclear arms race
despite a common border aping the
irresponsible example of the former
colonial masters the British they
naively believe that this is their path
to security and greatness blind faith in
nuclear deterrence has emboldened both
sides to launch provocative military
actions into disputed Kashmir several
times so despite the fact that each side
is armed to the teeth with nuclear
weapons the risk of war has increased
second to be credible nuclear deterrence
must never fail this requires
demonstrating the capabilities plans and
determination to use nuclear weapons
which brings me to number three is
nuclear deterrence a rational strategy
after all initiating a nuclear attack
against the nuclear-armed opponent would
basically be suicidal
an irrational opponent knows that
nuclear retaliation will be no more than
pointless revenge
unlike the aftermath from conventional
war nuclear war will leave a vast
radiated wasteland a medical catastrophe
for any survivors climate scientists
Alan robock and Brian tune have run a
computer model of what would happen if a
South Asian nuclear war broke out apart
from millions of dead untreatable
survivors radioactive poisoning and
apocalyptic destruction across South
Asia the smoke alone from fire storms
over cities would blot out the Sun
around the entire
northern hemisphere causing massive crop
failure and global famine the robot can
tune simulation involves just 100
nuclear weapons yet the United States
and Russia each still have nearly 1,000
nuclear weapons at 30 minutes notice or
less for launch another 5,000 nuclear
weapons on each side are held in reserve
the seven other nuclear-armed States
China France Great Britain India
Pakistan Israel and North Korea have
another 1000 nuclear weapons between
them since the nuclear weapons were
first deployed in the 1950s there have
been many close calls
what’s more horrifying is that most of
these have been inverted
due to malfunction human error or
misunderstanding
in 1962 the Soviet Union placed
nuclear-armed missiles in Cuba targeting
the United States in retaliation for
United States missiles placed in Turkey
u.s. President Kennedy threatened the
Soviets with nuclear attack because he
didn’t know that those Soviet missiles
were nuclear-armed and that there were
Soviet operators in Cuba ready to use
them I remember aged 18 my anxiety when
the whole world held its breath
catastrophic nuclear war was averted by
luck and a secret agreement to withdraw
missiles from Turkey and Cuba less than
30 years later Iraq invaded Kuwait 1990
speaking to 20,000 anti-war protesters
in London
I warned that if Salim Hussein felt
personally threatened he could attack
Israel with conventionally armed Scud
missiles and become the Arabs champion
if one Scud attack caused excessive
casualties Israel’s leader would come
under massive pressure to respond with a
nuclear strike on Baghdad a week after I
spoke israelis learned that their
nuclear deterrent had failed 39 Scud
attacks from Iraq caused miraculously
few casualties
the Americans rushed more anti scud
missile defenses there and congratulated
Israel on its restraint fast forward
five years in 1995 a Norwegian research
rocket was misidentified by Russian
radar as an incoming United States
nuclear strike the Russian leader
activated his special briefcase
authorizing nuclear armed submarines to
prepare for launch
cadet catastrophe was avoided by a few
minutes which brings me to the ongoing
crisis in Northeast Asia custom built to
showcase nuclear deterrence mad bad
North Korean leader Kim jong-un is
portrayed as the new Hitler but the
nuclear weapons so Donald Trump declares
that if the United States is threatened
either itself or its allies they will
have no choice but to totally destroy
North Korea that makes Trump little
better than Kim both have bought into
the bogey
mantra that only nuclear deterrence can
guarantee their country’s security the
United States claims to provide a
nuclear umbrella protecting its allies
South Korea and Japan but if nuclear
deterrence fails those countries become
targets while the United States mainland
would remain relatively untouched so
nuclear deterrence for them is actually
more like a sieve
but all is not lost more and more people
are realizing that this is an
ineffective and inexcusable strategy and
they’re starting to do something helpful
about it I joined the veterans in
Britain who became my friends after many
of my former colleagues shun me I also
was befriended by seasoned anti-nuclear
campaigners one of whom I married here
in nuclear-free New Zealand in 1997 soon
after my anti-nuclear shift received
support from a sensationally
well-qualified veteran in his last job
from 1992 to 94 General Lee Butler
United States Air Force was commander in
chief of the entire American nuclear war
machine yet when he examined it in
detail he was so horrified by the
incoherent madness of nuclear deterrence
planning that after retiring he spoke
out against it
and back in 1999 I accompanied him and
another reassuring convert former United
States
Defense Secretary Robert McNamara to
urge the Japanese government to stop
relying on the United States nuclear
protection on the 7th of July this year
in New York
I witnessed 122 United Nations member
states successfully negotiate and adopt
a treaty to prohibit to prohibit nuclear
weapons this built upon a historic
judgment over twenty years ago by the
International Court of Justice in answer
to the question is the threat or use of
nuclear weapons in any circumstance
permitted under international law i
chaired the british arm of that
international campaign which persuaded
most UN member states to agree to ask
the court that question in its judgment
the court confirmed that the threat let
alone use of nuclear weapons would
generally be illegal no surprise that
the three leading guardians of nuclear
deterrence the United States Great
Britain and France led a boycott of
those negotiations furiously protesting
that the irresponsibility and naivety of
those 122 supportive States ironically
the absence of the nine nuclear-armed
States was why the negotiations raced
along in a wonderfully cooperative
spirit and succeeded New Zealand was a
leading negotiator as the first ally of
a nuclear-armed state to have rejected
nuclear deterrence over 30 years ago
there’s more good news
this year the Nobel Peace Prize was
awarded to the international campaign to
abolish nuclear weapons which played a
leading role in mobilizing public and
political support for that treaty most
importantly for my successes in the
Royal Navy who have to be ready to do
the dirty work of pressing the nuclear
weapon launch button for their posturing
political leaders this treaty
strengthens the stigma against nuclear
deterrence the main difference between
military professionals and terrorists is
that military professionals need to act
within the law that is why chemical and
biological weapons are not recognized by
military professionals as weapons at all
they are indiscriminate terror devices
which have been outlawed and abolished
nuclear weapons are far worse for all
these reasons nuclear deterrence is no
more than a repulsive unlawful
protection racket used as a counterfeit
currency of power but hugely profitable
for the corporate arms industry the
power elites of the nuclear-armed states
are in denial that their game of nuclear
chicken really does threaten the
survival of us all but the tide of
history is at last churning towards
justice it is time for us all to step up
and end the threat to humanity in the
planet from this irresponsible hoax
holding us all hostage thank you
you
you
navigating strike jets from an aircraft
carrier
I was among four of the best crews in my
squadron and we were given the honor to
be a nuclear crew with a top-secret
security clearance the buzz intensified
when we were told what a huge
responsibility this was we were being
entrusted with the last are playing a
part the last-ditch defense of Great
Britain our target was a Soviet military
air base outside Leningrad formally
subpoenas birth after we had planned how
to attack it we were told not to discuss
it we obeyed and proudly celebrated
initiation into this elite within an
elite after a few years I switched to
anti-submarine helicopters our slow
lightweight torpedoes could not catch
Soviet nuclear submarines so we were
given a nuclear depth bomb unlike my
strike jet my helicopter was too slow to
escape the detonation I realized that
this would be a suicide mission when I
complained my leaders
my leaders reassured me that we would
probably never have to use it besides I
didn’t want to cut short a promising
career did I I fell silent but doubt set
here in 1978 my silence was rewarded as
a newly promoted commander in the
Ministry of Defence in London assisting
an Admiral responsible for advising on
nuclear policy mrs. Thatcher became
prime minister and she wanted Trident an
American nuclear-armed missile system
launched from huge militarily useless
submarines my Admiral warned that it’s
it was far too destructive for Britain’s
needs and its massive cost would mean
cuts in warships that were militarily
useful mrs. Thatcher drove the Trident
decision through then sure enough her
government announced warship cuts to pay
for it so I applied for redundancy my
application was approved one week into
the 1982 Falklands War between Britain
and Argentina I had to stay on until
after we had won and I had handed over
my job which was running a forty strong
intelligence team in the command bunker
outside London that war was a close-run
thing some of our ships were sunk and
colleagues killed if an aircraft carrier
or troop ship had been taken out we
could have faced defeat what would mrs.
Thatcher have done before the war she
was the most unpopular British Prime
minister in history now her political
career at stake she became the Iron Lady
after I left the Navy I was reliably
informed that there had been a
top-secret contingency plan to move the
patrolling British nuclear-armed
submarine
within range of Argentina that raised
the nightmare for me of a desperate
British leader with nuclear weapons and
the shameful possibility of our
submariners being ordered to commit a
pointless war crime after all British
nuclear weapons had not deterred
Argentina’s president general Galtieri
from invading the Falkland Islands with
victory in his grasp what a nuclear
threat have even been believed let alone
worked less than two years later my
beloved aunt and mentor Hilda Morel was
murdered she was an anti-nuclear
campaigner and the police did not
investigate her bizarre murder properly
I received information from several
reliable sources
that agents of the British security
service mi5 had been involved outraged I
felt betrayed by my beloved country’s
corrupt government my support for
nuclear deterrence collapsed with the
Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War
I now know that nuclear deterrence is an
ineffective
unlawful and utterly immoral strategy to
prevent nuclear war let’s look at three
aspects of nuclear deterrence first does
it in fact prevent war just because
World War three hasn’t broken out yet
doesn’t mean that nuclear deterrence has
prevented it arch-rivals India and
Pakistan are into a nuclear arms race
despite a common border aping the
irresponsible example of the former
colonial masters the British they
naively believe that this is their path
to security and greatness blind faith in
nuclear deterrence has emboldened both
sides to launch provocative military
actions into disputed Kashmir several
times so despite the fact that each side
is armed to the teeth with nuclear
weapons the risk of war has increased
second to be credible nuclear deterrence
must never fail this requires
demonstrating the capabilities plans and
determination to use nuclear weapons
which brings me to number three is
nuclear deterrence a rational strategy
after all initiating a nuclear attack
against the nuclear-armed opponent would
basically be suicidal
an irrational opponent knows that
nuclear retaliation will be no more than
pointless revenge
unlike the aftermath from conventional
war nuclear war will leave a vast
radiated wasteland a medical catastrophe
for any survivors climate scientists
Alan robock and Brian tune have run a
computer model of what would happen if a
South Asian nuclear war broke out apart
from millions of dead untreatable
survivors radioactive poisoning and
apocalyptic destruction across South
Asia the smoke alone from fire storms
over cities would blot out the Sun
around the entire
northern hemisphere causing massive crop
failure and global famine the robot can
tune simulation involves just 100
nuclear weapons yet the United States
and Russia each still have nearly 1,000
nuclear weapons at 30 minutes notice or
less for launch another 5,000 nuclear
weapons on each side are held in reserve
the seven other nuclear-armed States
China France Great Britain India
Pakistan Israel and North Korea have
another 1000 nuclear weapons between
them since the nuclear weapons were
first deployed in the 1950s there have
been many close calls
what’s more horrifying is that most of
these have been inverted
due to malfunction human error or
misunderstanding
in 1962 the Soviet Union placed
nuclear-armed missiles in Cuba targeting
the United States in retaliation for
United States missiles placed in Turkey
u.s. President Kennedy threatened the
Soviets with nuclear attack because he
didn’t know that those Soviet missiles
were nuclear-armed and that there were
Soviet operators in Cuba ready to use
them I remember aged 18 my anxiety when
the whole world held its breath
catastrophic nuclear war was averted by
luck and a secret agreement to withdraw
missiles from Turkey and Cuba less than
30 years later Iraq invaded Kuwait 1990
speaking to 20,000 anti-war protesters
in London
I warned that if Salim Hussein felt
personally threatened he could attack
Israel with conventionally armed Scud
missiles and become the Arabs champion
if one Scud attack caused excessive
casualties Israel’s leader would come
under massive pressure to respond with a
nuclear strike on Baghdad a week after I
spoke israelis learned that their
nuclear deterrent had failed 39 Scud
attacks from Iraq caused miraculously
few casualties
the Americans rushed more anti scud
missile defenses there and congratulated
Israel on its restraint fast forward
five years in 1995 a Norwegian research
rocket was misidentified by Russian
radar as an incoming United States
nuclear strike the Russian leader
activated his special briefcase
authorizing nuclear armed submarines to
prepare for launch
cadet catastrophe was avoided by a few
minutes which brings me to the ongoing
crisis in Northeast Asia custom built to
showcase nuclear deterrence mad bad
North Korean leader Kim jong-un is
portrayed as the new Hitler but the
nuclear weapons so Donald Trump declares
that if the United States is threatened
either itself or its allies they will
have no choice but to totally destroy
North Korea that makes Trump little
better than Kim both have bought into
the bogey
mantra that only nuclear deterrence can
guarantee their country’s security the
United States claims to provide a
nuclear umbrella protecting its allies
South Korea and Japan but if nuclear
deterrence fails those countries become
targets while the United States mainland
would remain relatively untouched so
nuclear deterrence for them is actually
more like a sieve
but all is not lost more and more people
are realizing that this is an
ineffective and inexcusable strategy and
they’re starting to do something helpful
about it I joined the veterans in
Britain who became my friends after many
of my former colleagues shun me I also
was befriended by seasoned anti-nuclear
campaigners one of whom I married here
in nuclear-free New Zealand in 1997 soon
after my anti-nuclear shift received
support from a sensationally
well-qualified veteran in his last job
from 1992 to 94 General Lee Butler
United States Air Force was commander in
chief of the entire American nuclear war
machine yet when he examined it in
detail he was so horrified by the
incoherent madness of nuclear deterrence
planning that after retiring he spoke
out against it
and back in 1999 I accompanied him and
another reassuring convert former United
States
Defense Secretary Robert McNamara to
urge the Japanese government to stop
relying on the United States nuclear
protection on the 7th of July this year
in New York
I witnessed 122 United Nations member
states successfully negotiate and adopt
a treaty to prohibit to prohibit nuclear
weapons this built upon a historic
judgment over twenty years ago by the
International Court of Justice in answer
to the question is the threat or use of
nuclear weapons in any circumstance
permitted under international law i
chaired the british arm of that
international campaign which persuaded
most UN member states to agree to ask
the court that question in its judgment
the court confirmed that the threat let
alone use of nuclear weapons would
generally be illegal no surprise that
the three leading guardians of nuclear
deterrence the United States Great
Britain and France led a boycott of
those negotiations furiously protesting
that the irresponsibility and naivety of
those 122 supportive States ironically
the absence of the nine nuclear-armed
States was why the negotiations raced
along in a wonderfully cooperative
spirit and succeeded New Zealand was a
leading negotiator as the first ally of
a nuclear-armed state to have rejected
nuclear deterrence over 30 years ago
there’s more good news
this year the Nobel Peace Prize was
awarded to the international campaign to
abolish nuclear weapons which played a
leading role in mobilizing public and
political support for that treaty most
importantly for my successes in the
Royal Navy who have to be ready to do
the dirty work of pressing the nuclear
weapon launch button for their posturing
political leaders this treaty
strengthens the stigma against nuclear
deterrence the main difference between
military professionals and terrorists is
that military professionals need to act
within the law that is why chemical and
biological weapons are not recognized by
military professionals as weapons at all
they are indiscriminate terror devices
which have been outlawed and abolished
nuclear weapons are far worse for all
these reasons nuclear deterrence is no
more than a repulsive unlawful
protection racket used as a counterfeit
currency of power but hugely profitable
for the corporate arms industry the
power elites of the nuclear-armed states
are in denial that their game of nuclear
chicken really does threaten the
survival of us all but the tide of
history is at last churning towards
justice it is time for us all to step up
and end the threat to humanity in the
planet from this irresponsible hoax
holding us all hostage thank you
you
you
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