A reckless, dangerous attackLudo De Brabander, Belgium

US President Trump gave permissionfor a "decisive defensive action" inIraq to assassinate Qasem Soleimani,an important Iranian military leader.A new escalation is imminent in thealready very unstable region.

E N DINFO News, updates and information | European Nuclear Disarmament

Issue 11 | January 2020 | Produced by the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation

EUR PE

Inside: Iran Statements | Tact ical Warheads | Munich Conference | Hypersonic Missi les | START . . .

have taken to the streets to protestagainst the execution of their leader.

The attack on Soleimani threatensto further escalate the situation in thealready highly destabilized MiddleEast. Trump thereby underlines hisreputation as a reckless president, whois unable to estimate the consequencesof his actions. He has already orderedseveral military attacks in the MiddleEast, although he repeatedly promisesto withdraw the US from expensiveforeign conflicts.

In reality, the US military presenceis almost as large as in recent monthsunder President Obama. His approachthreatens to inevitably lead to an evengreater military deployment in theMiddle East. Only recently didWashington send 750 extra soldiers toIraq. The responses to this newAmerican provocation arepredictable.

Continued on page 2...

The attack happened in Baghdad,where Soleimani, of the Quds force,had just arrived. Quds is an elite unitof the Iranian Revolutionary Guard,which is responsible for militaryoperations outside of Iran. He is seenas one of the most powerful figures inIran. There, a large number of people

European Nuclear Disarmament: 2020 and beyondIf 2019 saw the development of furtherglobal dangers, from the wrecking ofarms control deals to the threat of newnuclear weapons, it also saw thedevelopment of important, if modest,steps towards confronting thesedangers.

Amongst the ongoing and inspiringefforts of peace and disarmamentorganisations across the continent ofEurope, the idea of ‘European NuclearDisarmament’ has had a hearing andthe urgent need for coordinated effortto confront the nuclear threat has beenacted upon.

European peace groups convened inBrussels twice in 2019 to plan anddiscuss. The first meeting, in mid-September, resulted in the agreement

Disarmament - how to make Europeand the World nuclear weapons free’,was hosted by the GUE/NGL group ofMEPs. As well as being an opportunityfor a more in-depth discussion of thesituation, this meeting was significant inbeing the first event of its kind in theEuropean Parliament for some time(see END Info 9, November 2019 formore information).

The European movement will needto do a great deal more talking,thinking, debating and discussing in2020. We will also need to rapidlyincrease our joint actions and otherforms of cooperation. The reasons forthis should be clear. 2020 opened withanother clear demonstration of thegreat risks that Continued on page 8...

of a ‘European call for nucleardisarmament’ signed by the BertrandRussell Peace Foundation, InternationalPeace Bureau, International Network ofEngineers and Scientists for GlobalResponsibility, Abolition 2000,International Trade UnionConfederation and InternationalPhysicians for Prevention of NuclearWar (see END Info 8, October 2019 forthe text). This meeting also agreed acommon action against US baseshousing nuclear missiles in Germany,Holland and Belgium. Details of thiscommon action will be released in thenext few weeks.

The second meeting took place inthe European Parliament on 17October. This meeting, titled ‘Nuclear

Iran: continued from page 1...Earlier this week, Washington threwoil on the fire with several droneattacks on five positions of KataibHezbollah, a pro-Iranian Shiite militia.25 militants were killed. That in turnwas a retribution for an attack on a USbase in Iraq where an Americansoldier was killed. Abu Mahdi alMuhandis (the 'engineer'), the leaderof Kataib Hezbollah, was one of theother victims of the American attack inwhich Soleimani died. Furious pro-Iranian paramilitaries responded tothe drone attacks with an attack on theUS embassy in Baghdad. In thisvicious circle of violence, the chancesare that the 25,000-member militia willavenge the death of its leader withattacks on US targets in the region.

The US is not well prepared for alarge-scale escalation of theconfrontation with Iran. Officially, it issaid that Soleimani was responsible fornumerous American deaths and thathe planned new attacks. Americanmilitary action ensures that the risk hasrisen sharply. Washington may havehoped to take advantage of thegrowing discontent among the Iraqipeople, who have been taking to thestreets for weeks against corruption,the dire economic situation andgrowing Iranian influence in Iraq. It isquestionable whether the recent attackwill weaken Iran's influence. On thehome front, Trump is sitting with an

impeachment procedure on the eve ofnew presidential elections. The killingof Soleimani might not only provide anecessary distraction, but alsostrengthen the position of theAmerican president by uniting thepopulation against the 'threat' of Iran.

Israel has been driving for a hardconfrontation with Iran for some timebecause of an alleged nuclear programin that country. Prime MinisterNetanyahu, whose country has anextensive nuclear arsenal of its own,was one of the biggest opponents ofthe nuclear agreement that Iranconcluded in 2015 with the P+1 (thefive permanent members of the UNSecurity Council + Germany) and theEU. In May 2018, President Trumpannounced that the US is withdrawingfrom the nuclear agreement.

The US government recognizedJerusalem – against international law –as the capital of Israel, moved the USembassy to this symbolically holy city,recognized Israeli sovereignty on theSyrian Golan Heights and stated thatIsraeli settlements in the occupiedPalestinian territories will no longer allbe illegal. In February 2019, USSecretary of State Pompeo echoed themessage from the Israeli PrimeMinister that peace and stability in theMiddle East would not be possiblewithout confronting Iran. After his re-election as leader of the Likud party atthe start of 2020, Netanyahu promised

even more "historic achievements" ina six-point plan, including full USrecognition of Israeli sovereignty in"Judea and Samaria" (the West Bank),a historic defense alliance with the USand a halt to Iran and its allies.

In recent years, Israel hasintensified its attacks on pro-Iraniantargets in Syria (more than 200 in 2017and 2018). The Iraqi governmentaccused Israel of several similarattacks in Iraq.

Finally, the Israeli and Americanunrest about growing Iranianinfluence in the region plays animportant role. In Syria, PresidentBashar al-Assad rushed to helprecapture the opposition areas. InIraq, Tehran supports various politicalparties and militias and has developedan arsenal of short-range missiles. InYemen, Iran provides support to theHouthis against Saudi Arabia. Thecountry is also the mainstay ofHezbollah, a powerful Shiite militia inLebanon. Tehran is trying to maintainthe balance of power vis-à-vis SaudiArabia and the United Arab Emirateswhose military spending is seventimes higher (together $90 billion in2018) than Iran's ($13 billion), whilethe other major opponent, Israel, is anuclear weapons force with a defensebudget of 16 billion dollars.

First published on www.vrede.beon 3 January 2020

Iran: Statements from Europe and BeyondInternational Peace Bureau

No to War – Statement on theU.S. Assassination of General

Soleimani

The illegal assassination of IranianGeneral Soleimani was an act of warby the United States that must not betolerated. Whatever the crimes ofSoleimani have been, the UnitedStates has no legal or moral right totake such unilateral action or for therecent bombings of five Iranian relatedfacilities in Iraq and Syria. Iraq, Syriaand Iran are sovereign nations andthese U.S. attacks have been grossviolations of international law, whichprohibits such aggression. They havealso humiliated and outraged thegovernment and people of Iran. How

innocent in the Middle East. We havewitnessed 70 years of U.S. aggression –military, diplomatic, economic,cultural and otherwise – to enforcehegemony/control over our oil undertheir sands. The people of the MiddleEast continue to suffer the price ofconflict and proxy wars. They deservethe support of the world for a newpeace process.

Donald Trump argues that thepreemptive assassination wasnecessary, but it should beremembered that the JointComprehensive Plan of Action (theIran nuclear deal) provided thefoundation for a diplomatic resolutionof U.S.-Iranian tensions. It is Trump’sand Bolton’s violation of this U.N.Agreement that has opened the mawinto which the world may now be

would the U.S. respond to its militaryinstallations in Japan or Korea beingattacked or to the assassination of theU.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs ofStaff?

There is some concern thatSoleimani’s murder may prove to bethe equivalent of the assassination ofArchduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevoin 1914 – that triggered World War I.Once the fires of war are lit, containingthem is less than easy. We should havelearned from the past that WAR ISNOT THE ANSWER.

Our task now is to do all that we canto prevent an escalation, a wider war,or even a nuclear war, in response towhat will certainly be Iran’s retaliation.We call immediately for urgent actionsof the peace movement worldwide.

The U.S. is far from being an

crimes, relating to nuclear weapons.IAEA inspectors proved that false, butsince those days, the US has pursuedthat track in order to have an excuse tobring Iran down. With the signing ofthe Iran nuclear deal, the US could nolonger ratchet up tensions against Iranon that basis, so it didn’t take long forthe US to withdraw from the deal,attempting to destroy the Iranianeconomy. Now they have simplyresorted to murder, to provoke Iranand drive the region to war.

The great danger now is that Iranwill finally decide that it needs todevelop nuclear weapons to ensure itsown security – much as North Koreadid when it found itself part of Bush’sAxis of Evil. It is profoundly to behoped that it does not do so.

If the international communityvalues peace and security – and indeedthe future of our planet – then it mustact to reign in Trump and put a stop tohis fast track to disaster.

Our movement has opposed a waron Iran since it was first mooted afterthe disastrous attack on Iraq. Becauseof the strength and scale of the peaceand anti-war movement at that time,we were able to get war off the agenda.But now it’s back, and we must step upto the plate, nationally andinternationally. Putting pressure on ourgovernment to oppose war on Iran isthe key first step.

www.cnduk.org

GUE/NGL Group, EuropeanParliament

Trump must be restrained toprevent another Middle East War

Left MEPs have called for continueddialogue with Iran as the nuclear dealwas put on life support following theUS strike that killed Iranian generalQassem Suleimani.

Continued on page 4...

Visit www.russfound.org for information on the work of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation and formore on the END campaigns in the 1980s | Email tomunterrainer@russfound.org for more information

falling. In response to a militia killingof a U.S. contractor, Trump andcompany have bombed and destroyedfive military targets in Iraq and Syria,which resulted in a militant protest atthe U.S. embassy, and that forces weregathering to retaliate.

Instead of initiating a war throughthe assassination of Soleimani, morerational leaders would have attemptedto reverse the spiraling of militaryescalation through diplomacy, notmurderous escalation.

We totally reject and abhor thefoolhardy, belligerent and seriouslydangerous actions of the U.S. inbringing the world even closer to aglobal conflict which wouldundoubtedly include the use of nuclearweapons. More war is not the answer.In April 1982 the ‘IndependentCommission on Disarmament andSecurity Issues’ – also known as the‘Palme Commission’ – introduced theidea that “States can no longer seeksecurity at each other’s expense; it canbe obtained only through cooperativeundertakings”. This concept of‘common security’ is needed nowmore than ever as we face together theexistential threats of climate changeand nuclear war.

Furthermore, IPB calls on the UNSecurity Council to condemn theaggression of the U.S. IPB also urgesthe EU to refuse to support any war, todeclare it is against any military attackon Iran and not to allow the U.S. to usemilitary facilities and military bases onthe territory of EU Member States.

It is time for action by the peacemovement! Let us unite despite anypolitical or social borders to avoid thisdisastrous war!

Campaign for NuclearDisarmament

No War On IranKate Hudson, CND General Secretary

The US killing of Iranian generalQasem Soleimani and six others in adrone strike in Iraq was an act of stateterrorism – extra-judicial killings thatare illegal under international law. TheUS acted as a rogue state and ourgovernment’s support for this crime –

on the basis of the US right to self-defence – makes a mockery ofinternational legal norms.

Trump’s most recent statement – of52 targets in the event of any Iranianretaliation – is shocking in theextreme, exposing the true level ofbarbarism of the Trump administrationand putting him on a par with theTaliban and ISIL in terms of their warcrimes against historic and culturalsites. The targets, says Trump, include‘some at a very high level & importantto Iran & the Iranian culture.’

We remember the global horror atthe Taliban’s destruction, in 2001, ofthe 6th century Buddhas of Bamyan,protected by UNESCO worldheritage status. That atrocity wasintensified a hundred-fold by thesubsequent actions of ISIL in Iraq,Syria and Libya. They destroyedcountless cultural and religious sites,libraries, statuary and artifacts; thedevastating and irreplaceable loss of asignificant part of our shared globalheritage.

Going down this same path, Trumphas reached new depths ofdegradation. Each and every one of usmust be mobilised in whatever way wecan to oppose these atrocities.

Meanwhile, social media talks ofWorld War 3, as Trump’s politicalassassinations further destabilise theregion. Maybe that is a prematurespeculation, but it is not withoutpossibility. We should be in no doubtthat the US has created the conditionsfor a much wider conflict, and theiractions must be condemned by theentire international community.

The Middle East has been a warzone since the US/UK-led war on Iraqin 2003 – a war for oil and strategicregional control – justified by lies andtrumped-up charges. At that time,Bush and Blair’s case for war wasbased on supposed Iraqi possession ofWMD, a false accusation. They soonmoved to accuse Iran of similar

Europe.“All parties have to abide by

applicable international law andhuman rights. The same applies to theTrump administration. I urgeCommission President Ursula von derLeyen to spare no effort in the cause ofpeace,” Schirdewan concluded.

GUE/NGL MEPs have written toEU foreign policy chief Josep Borrellcalling on the EU to take a strong leadto de-escalate the situation, and theircomments come on the heels of theIraqi parliament’s vote on Sundaywhich compelled the country’sgovernment “to work towards endingthe presence of all foreign troops onIraqi soil”.

Pax Christi

The decision by the TrumpAdministration to assassinate Iran’sGeneral Soleimani on Iraqi soil,reportedly by drone strike, has onlysucceeded in escalating tensions in theMiddle East and put in jeopardy thelives of innocent men, women andchildren who will bear the brunt ofback-and-forth retaliation between theUS and Iran. This is another in a longstring of failures by this administrationto pursue diplomacy and act withprudence in addressing thecomplicated problems of the region,many of which have been exacerbatedby or are the direct result of decades ofbad decisions undertaken by the U.S.in the Middle East ...

We continue to demand that ourpolitical leaders seek real diplomaticand humanitarian solutions to thecurrent crisis and refrain from furthermilitary confrontation with Iran.Actions like the assassination ofGeneral Soleimani only serve todestabilize the region further, fuel anti-American sentiment, and stoke thefires of extremism. Such actions goagainst everything we stand for aspeople of faith and are incompatiblewith the message of Jesus.

MEP Connie Ernst (DIE LINKE,Germany), chair of the EuropeanParliament’s delegation for relationswith Iran, said that Trump’s sanctionsand clandestine assassinations haveemboldened conservative forces in thecountry:

“Trump is tearing down what hastaken a lot of effort to build in the last15 years. This is leading to increasedinsecurity from nuclear threats. InIran, ultra-conservative forces areagain on the rise.

“We demand an end to the UnitedStates’ policy of escalation and call onEuropean governments to continueengagement and dialogue.”

GUE/NGL co-President Manon

Aubry (France Insoumise, France)called on the EU to end its silence andacquiescence with Trump’sadventurism:

“Trump’s irresponsible behaviour isthreatening world peace. TheEuropean Union must firmlycondemn this violation of internationallaw and put all its weight behindavoiding any further escalation ofviolence.”

Co-President Martin Schirdewan(DIE LINKE, Germany) warns of acatastrophic war otherwise:

“It is essential to prevent furtherescalation of violence or else there is arisk of full-blown war across the regionwith devastating consequences for

US Subs now armed with newTactical Nuclear WarheadsThe 2020 defence budget, nowapproved by the United StatesCongress and Senate, includes arelatively small spendingcommitment, but the consequences ofthat commitment are of somesignificance. $19.6 million has beenset aside to buy W76-2 warheads.This amount would be enough topurchase a fraction of one F-35Astealth fighter, yet the inclusion of thisitem delayed the passing of thebudget by three months. Why thedelay?

The W76-2 warhead is a lesspowerful version of the W76-1warhead that is already deployed onUS Trident II missiles. These missilesare in turn carried by the US Navy’sOhio-class submarines. The W76-1warheads are roughly six times aspowerful as the atomic bombdropped on Hiroshima.

The W76-2 warhead is thought tobe between a third and half aspowerful as the bomb dropped onHiroshima.

Writing in The National Interest (21Dec 2019), Sebastian Roblin explainsthe difference between the twoversions of the W76 warhead: “theW76[-1] is a strategic weapondesigned to obliterate hardenednuclear missile silos and annihilatelarge populated areas in anapocalyptic nuclear war - and morepointedly, to deter foes [sic] frominitiating such a war - while the W76-2 is a tactival nuclear weapon

designed to hit individual militarybases and formations on thebattlefield.”

This seems to be the definition ofthe ‘usable’ nuclear weapon that hasbeen threatened by Trump and hismilitary aides for some time. Roblinreports that the W76-2 has been“championed by officials ... as ameans to give the U.S. military anadditional tool with which to retaliaterapidly and proportionally [sic] to thetactical nuclear weapons possessed byRussia.”

There are multiple issues with thedeployment of such weapons. First,tactical nuclear weapons are notregulated by any treaty, so we shouldexpect to see the Pantex plant inTexas kept busy. Second, it is likelythat the threshold for using a tacticalnuclear weapon of this type willactually be much lower than forbomb-carried nuclear devices withsimilar power or for strategic nuclearweapons.

Is it, for instance, beyondimagination that President Trumpwould use such a weapon todemonstrate ‘superior power’? It isnot. This is all the more concerning asany ‘tactical nuclear strike’ will surelytrigger a strategic strike, not onlybecause this is the twisted logic ofnuclear escalation but because themissiles on which they are carried areidentical to those carrying the W76-1strategic warheads. This deploymentis a dangerous turn of events.

Call for protests against the Munich Security Conference on 15 February 2020

Everything must change!No to war and destruction of the environment!The Munich Security Conference( Siko”) will be held from February 14th

to 16th. Heads of state and governmentwill be meeting with representatives ofbig business and the arms industry,with the military, intelligence agencies,and politicians. When they speakabout ’security’, it is not aboutpeaceful solution to conflicts, as theconference chairman WolfgangIschinger claims, not about thesecurity of people here, and not aboutthe security of people elsewhere in theworld, but about the dominance of theWest with its capitalist economicsystem, based on the exploitation ofhuman beings and nature.

solidarity as long as NATO exists. Butsuch a world is necessary and possible.

Let us act together for it! Stop theextremely dangerous policy ofconfrontation and marshaling oftroops on the Russian border. Insteadof saber-rattling, we need negotiationsand civilian conflict resolution withoutblackmail and military threats. Peacein Europe is only possible togetherwith, and not against Russia.

The madness of the arms race mustbe stopped. Disarmament is what isneeded now. Instead of splurgingbillions on military armament andpreparations for war, our tax moneyshould be invested in the social-security systems, in education, and inclimate protection.

Germany must not be anaccomplice in any form in criminalwars of aggression. The US air baseRamstein, the other US military bases,and all the other US and NATOcommand centers in Germany must beclosed down.

Stop all the arms exports! Thedeadly deals of the arms dealers andwar profiteers must be stopped andforbidden. Instead of tolerating hatecampaigns against people who arefleeing the wars waged with Germanweapons, we stand in solidarity withthe refugees.

Germany must not participate in thenuclear-war strategy of the USA. TheGerman government must not permitthe stationing of intermediate-rangemissiles here; it must prohibit thestationing of American nuclearweapons, and sign the UN treatybanning nuclear weapons.

International law must be observed,and the United Nations, as theinstitution of collective security, mustbe strengthened.

Join the demonstration onSaturday, 15 February 2020, at 1p.m. at the Karlsplatz/Stachus in

Munich!See:

www.sicherheitskonferenz.de/en/Call-Protests-Against-SIKO-2020

for more information.

We oppose the dominant policiesbecause peace can only be achievedwith democracy, social welfare, andenvironmental action. Everythingmust change! We are fighting for asociety of solidarity, in which the focusis on the interests of the many, not theprofits of the few. Our campaignalliance is part of worldwidemovement for justice and peace. Wereject all military threats and every warof aggression.

Our protest is directed first andforemost at the German government,which participates in illegal wars ofaggression as part of NATO. Therewill be no peaceful and just world of

Hypersonic Missiles and the Arms Race

New START must be extended! New Start, the Strategic ArmsReduction Treaty, came into force 5February 2011. If not renewed, it willexpire at the start of 2021. New STARTfunctions by agreement of the UnitedStates and Russian and is the onlyremaining such Treaty after PresidentTrump took the step of withdrawingfrom the Intermediate Range NuclearForces (INF) Treaty.

In essence, New START: caps eachcountry at 1,550 deployed long-rangenuclear warheads; restricts each side to700 deployed long-range nucleardelivery vehicles and limits eachcountry to 800 deployed and non-deployed launchers and deliverysystems.

The Treaty does not limit non-deployed warheads, of which there aremany on each side, and neither does itlimit research and development,missiles development or conventionalweapons development.

Under the Treaty the United Statesand Russia can each carry out up toeighteen short-notice, on-siteinspections of each other’s nuclearbases and support facilities annually.

weapons than Washington andMoscow each do. Adding China to thetreaty would not meaningfully limit itsarsenal and would even leave room forit to grow; New START was intendedto limit Russia’s most threateningnuclear weapons, the long-range onesthat could strike the US homeland andthe Trump administration hasrepeatedly assessed that Russia iscomplying with New START.

Whilst arms control is not theultimate aim of nuclear abolishionists,it is a fact that treaties such as NewSTART make the world a safer place.Further, the motive forces driving theUS towards sabotaging yet anotherinternational treaty should not beignored.

The aim is for the US to assert itselfon the world stage as we shift to amultipolar order. The US is no longerthe sole ‘global power’ and it is willingto take reckless measures in an effort tomaintain its position. As the recklessmeasures stack up, the world becomesa more and more dangerous place.Scrapping New START will acceleratethis process.

Inspectors check the location ofnuclear weapons, their deploymentstatus, and the production of newballistic missiles. This includesinspecting ballistic missiles andbombers to ensure the number ofwarheads they were declared to becarrying is accurate.

As with the US withdrawal from theINF Treaty and JCPOA, a concertedcampaign is now underway toundermine New START with a view toadding it to the already burning‘bonfire of treaties’.

‘Objections’ include: Russia isdeveloping new nuclear weapons thatwill not be limited by New START;China is not included in the treaty, sothe United States is handcuffing itself;the treaty does not limit Russia’sshorter-range nuclear systems andRussia has ‘cheated’ arms controlrules.

The reality is that: some of thesenew weapons would fall under NewSTART’s restrictions. Others wouldlikely not be deployed until after thetreaty expires, even if extended;Beijing has five times fewer nuclear

The U.S. “Defense Department ismaking headway to build a hypersonicweapons industry in the Untied States,and the Army is spearheading themanufacturing of a key componentthat will be used by all the services —the Common Hypersonic Glide Body”reported the defensenews.com websitein late 2019.

On 27 December 2019, it wasannounced that Russia’s first regimentof Avangard hypersonic missiles hasbeen put into service.

Although some doubts have beenraised about whether the Avangardsystem is fully operational, or whetherit’s in an advanced stage of testing,these reports highlight a major andconcerning development in thedeveloping arms race.

It is not simply the case that the U.S.and Russia are competing to rush suchweapons into operation. On Russia’spart, it seems that the development ofsuch weapons is a direct response tothe development and extensivedeployment of anti-missile defencecapabilities by the U.S.

these weapons create. Second, the riskof further escalation in terms ofrhetoric and arms development.Third, the acceleration of the rate atwhich new technologies are beingharnessed in weapons systems and theconsequent costs.

At a time when the global system ofarms control has been significantlyundermined and the rate ofdevelopment of new weapons systemsis increasing, there appears to be norestraint in the new arms race.

Hypersonic weapons are designedto be highly manoeuvrable in additionto travelling at a hypersonic speed (20times faster than the speed of sound).Such a combination would make theAvangard “invulnerable to interceptby any existing and prospectivemissile defence means of the potentialadversary”, as the Russian Presidentput it.

There are three major issues towhich the peace movements should bealert. First, the further instability that

Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor

UK Elections: the view from Scotland

The 2019 report of the NuclearWeapons Ban Monitor was launched ata side event during the UN GeneralAssembly in New York on 16 October.This watchdog measures progresstowards a world free of nuclearweapons, by using the 2017 UN Treatyon the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons(TPNW) as a yardstick. The report alsoevaluates the extent to which thepolicies and practices of all statescomply with the prohibitions in theTPNW, regardless of whether theyhave joined the Treaty yet.

The 2019 report of the NuclearWeapons Ban Monitor, researched andpublished by the organizationNorwegian People’s Aid (NPA),identifies 31 mostly European states as“nuclear-weapon-complicit states”.These are states that do not themselvespossess nuclear weapons but haveoutsourced their nuclear postures toone or more nuclear-armed alliesthrough arrangements of extendednuclear deterrence, or so-called“nuclear umbrellas”. They haveendorsed or acquiesced in thecontinued possession and potential use

signing it. Only 17 countries in theworld are undecided on the TPNW.

The TPNW will be binding,international law when 50 states haveratified it. The Nuclear Weapons BanMonitor shows that the Treaty ismoving steadily towards early entryinto force, despite obstructionism fromnuclear-armed states. At the time ofwriting, the TPNW had, by a closemargin, the second fastest speed ofadherence of the treaties on weapons ofmass destruction, though significantlyslower than the 1968 Treaty on theNon-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons(NPT).

Even though the nuclear-armedstates are resisting the TPNW, it isimportant that countries withoutnuclear weapons now are taking thelead and becoming the first statesparties to the Treaty. In doing so theyare creating a long-overdue norm thatnuclear weapons are unacceptable, andan international framework for theirelimination.

See https://banmonitor.org/ formore information.

of nuclear weapons on their behalf.It is not only the nine nuclear-armed

states that stand between theinternational community and its long-standing goal of a world free of nuclearweapons. So do the 31 nuclear-weapon-complicit states. Their role in assisting,encouraging, and inducing continuedretention of nuclear weapons had notbeen given much attention prior to theadoption of the TPNW in the UN in2017. The nine nuclear-armed statesand the 31 nuclear-weapon-complicitstates do not support the TPNW, andsome of them actively oppose it. Themajority of the world’s states, however,stand behind the Treaty. The NuclearWeapons Ban Monitor categorizes atotal of 135 countries as TPNWsupporters.

As of October 2019, 32 states are fullstates parties to the TPNW, whileanother 48 states have signed it, but notyet ratified it. In addition, 55 countrieshave voted in favour of the Treaty inthe UN.

Support for the TPNW is high in allregions apart from Europe, where 34states (or 69%) today are opposed to

Statement from Scottish CND

We are pleased that Scotland's view onnuclear weapons is reflected in theelection results with an overwhelmingmajority of our winning MPs having aclear anti-Trident stance. It is alsoencouraging that the issue of nuclearweapons came up so regularly duringthe campaign on doorsteps and athustings. It is more of an issue forpeople than many of the politiciansthink.

Today is the beginning of newchapter in SCND’s campaign for anuclear-free Scotland working for anuclear-free, anti-racist world, andresponding appropriately to theclimate emergency. An anti-nuclearanti-racist stance was explicit and highprofile in the SNP campaign and theone remaining Labour MP in Scotlandis known for his steadfast opposition toTrident.

The election results outwithScotland are a sober reminder that

we wish to express real and heartfeltsolidarity with those who are even nowpicking themselves up to continue thestruggle for equality, truth and justice.In particular we salute the courage andthe persistence of those in the rest ofthe UK who work their socks off in thecause of nuclear disarmament in sucha hostile climate. We are in thistogether.

www.banthebomb.org

Scotland is currently part of a UnitedKingdom which is dead set oncontinuing to prioritise nuclearweapons at the expense of genuinesocial and economic security, and towilfully ignore the planetary crisis. Anindependent Scotland will follow abetter path than the road the UK isbeing led down.

The power is in our hands to rid thewhole of the UK from the scourge ofnuclear weapons and weshould now be planning thevital and sequential stepstowards that end. Meanwhile,we must live and act as part ofthat global groundswell forpeace and human securitythat is behind the Treaty onthe Prohibition of NuclearWeapons. It's a sleeves upmoment.

At the same time we sharethe feelings of distress, dismayand actual grief that so manyare experiencing today and

Keep the PeaceThe Spokesman 143

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E N DINFO

END: continued from page 1...confront us. Trump’s actions in Iraqcould very easily have spiralled out ofcontrol, developing into an intenseregional conflagration.

We have characterised the situationthat developed over the course of 2018and 2019 as amounting to a ‘globaltinderbox’, where one small sparkcould set the world on fire. The USattack on Iran’s second most powerfulfigure is an example of the kind ofreckless and dangerous actions thatcould spark horrifying outcomes.

The deployment of new tactical warheads on US submarines (see page 4),ongoing development of hyspersonicweapons (see page 6), the threat of‘useable’ nuclear weapons, thetrashing of the INF Treaty and the risk

Against the development of a EUmilitary formation and theextradordinary sums of money thatwill be spent on it, we should demandpolicies of common security andmoves towards a Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone with the money spent onpeaceful development, tacklingunemployment and social provision.

Against the arms race, in whichEuropean states will play a part, weshould demand and develop policy onsocially useful production and armsconversion. Where Europeangovernments have recognised therealities of the climate emergency, weshould demand a ‘climate audit’ of allmilitary operations.

European Nuclear Disarmamenthas much work to do! TU

that intermediate-range, nuclearcapable missiles might be deployed inEurope once more clearlydemonstrate that the global dangerswe have analysed are beingcompounded by a new arms race.

This race is itself driven by thechanging global political landscape buthas been supercharged bytechnological and scientificdevelopments. The nuclear weaponstates are racing to exploit thesetechnologies.

It is essential that our ‘thinking anddoing’ extends to alternativeproposals. For example, againstTrump’s demand that the Europeanstates withdraw from the Iran Deal, weshould demand and work to ensurethat this does not happen.