Removing the roadblocks to peace

From END Info 24 | May/June 2021 DOWNLOAD HERE

“The world stands at a crossroads” declares the ‘Call for Action’ for a Nuclear Weapons free Europe. The organisers of the call, the Nuke Free Europe network in which the Russell Foundation participates, have initiated a month of action (see below) focussed on demanding an end to nuclear modernisation and nuclear sharing and for European states to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. These demands are a starting point towards ridding Europe of nuclear weapons once and for good.

The demands address three key ‘roadblocks to peace’ in the European context. Each and every nuclear armed state has begun a process of not just updating existing weapons, but are developing a whole new range of nuclear warheads. Billions of Euros are going towards ‘more usable’ nuclear weapons, new machines of death and destruction, at a time when we should all be focussed on remaking society in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic. A new arms race must be stopped.

The fact that US nuclear weapons have a home in Europe under nuclear sharing agreements is another roadblock. The presence of such weapons in Germany, Italy, Belgium and The Netherlands makes each country a potential target. The presence of such weapons indicates that the US views Europe as a potential nuclear battleground. They must be removed.

The refusal of the vast majority of European states to engage with the TPNW and the hostile posture assumed by some states indicates another major roadblock: a refusal to take stated commitments (through the NPT, for example) to nuclear disarmament seriously. The peace movements in Europe must organise to put the question near to the top of the political agenda.

The UK’s announcements on nuclear warheads and nuclear use indicate some of the challenges we face, but also indicate that such decisions can be challenged. The UK is in breach of the NPT and must be held to account.

The final roadblock addressed in this issue of END Info relates to the plight of the Palestinian people. The status of Israel as a nuclear-armed state and the double-standards in relation to this status indicates two things: that the Palestinian people face an occupier with military capacities beyond any other state in the region and that the failure of the international community to bring Israel into the NPT or effectively challenge serial breaches of international law in other respects means that a drastic shift in approach is required.

To give context to Israel’s bomb, we reprint Ken Coates’ detailed account of how it was developed and its impact on the region.