WHAT CUTS? MOD PLOUGHS £5BN INTO ATOMIC WEAPONS ESTABLISHMENT

The Ministry of Defence  has announced spending of £5 billion at the Atomic Weapons Establishment  at Aldermaston and Burghfield in Berkshire.
This means that AWE Management Limited, which is a joint venture consisting of Lockheed Martin, Serco and Jacobs Engineering Group, will receive £1bn a year for the next five years.

This is the second time in six months that the MoD has announced spending on AWE, which develops and maintains the nuclear warheads for Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons system.

In November 2011 an extra £2bn spending was announced to pay for new facilities for warhead assembly/disassembly and high-explosives testing, among other projects.

Kate Hudson, General Secretary for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament stated: ‘At a time of massive spending cuts to vital public services, it is disgraceful that the government keeps ploughing money into a redundant Cold War weapons system. The government isn’t listening to over 60% of the British public who want to see Trident scrapped. A decision on whether or not to replace Trident is not due in Parliament until 2016. But the scale of spending on nuclear weapons, which we are frequently reassured is simply routine investment, suggests that the MoD is trying to force Parliament’s hand by making Trident replacement a fait accompli. This is unacceptable, shadowy decision-making which is economically unjustifiable, strategically wrongheaded and morally bankrupt. And worst of all they’re paying for it out of the pockets of people who oppose it.’

NO TO NATO

A NATO summit will be held in Chicago on 20/21st May The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a military alliance of the USA, Canada, the UK and other states, set up after the Second World War to oppose the USSR.  The ‘Communist Bloc’ disintegrated twenty years ago, but NATO lives on, a dangerous Cold War dinosaur.

On the occasion of NATO’s Summit Meeting, we should protest against NATO’s Strategic Plan and against UK membership of this aggressive alliance….

Ever larger:

NATO is recruiting new member states year by year, encircling Russia, threatening Iran and even China. Finland and Sweden are being courted, so as to control the resources opening up in the melting Arctic. There is talk of Israel joining. NATO now accounts for 75% of global military spending and seeks to control the world in the economic interests of the USA and other rich states.

War-prone and worldwide:  NATO’s founding mission is ‘defence’ of the North Atlantic region. So why is it sponsored by the UN to fight an aggressive war in Afghanistan? Why does it need a Rapid Deployment force capable of despatching fighting units worldwide within days?

Militarizing the European Union:

NATO wants an increasingly militarized European Union as its ‘strategic partner’. Predicting ‘cyber wars’, it foresees greater ‘military-civilian co-operation’ in the name of ‘counter-insurgency’, further threatening our civil liberties.

Nuclear weapons:

Under NATO’s ‘nuclear sharing’ agreement, US nuclear warheads are stationed in European member states. It is NATO policy that strategic nuclear weapons, including the UK’s Trident system, be retained and modernized. The USA is going ahead with its new-model ‘missile defence’ antiballistic space shield, despite popular resistance to its installations. We should say ‘No to NATO’ for all these reasons. Email David Cammeron now!

The Natural History Museum will host the official Farnborough Reception in the Museum on July 9th. Arms dealers will enjoy cocktails in the shadow of the museums famous Diplodocus. The organisers say the reception is ‘THE most important event during the Farnborough week exclusively attended by senior level figures, international delegations & exhibitors – a must attend unparalleled networking opportunity’. In 2010 international delegates included Libya, Bahrain, Algeria, China & Saudi Arabia. Government officials guided  buyers from Libya round the fair – 7 months later the UK was condemning the country for the murder of civilian protesters & preparing for missile strikes. Ask the museum not to support the promotion of arms sales – email or write to the Museums Director today!

Hiroshima Commemoration

We have invited the Lord Mayor to attend our Hiroshima Commemoration outside the Town Hall on Aug 6th and our Nagasaki Peace Picnic in Meersbrook Park on Aug 12th. We hope to produce a selection of poems & writings for the picnic so put pen to paper & send your work to Kath. Please put these dates in your Diary and support us on the day. We need much more practical help for all the upcoming events.

We have stalls booked at Peace in the Park and The Green Fair
Menwith Hill July 4th – Book your place on our coach now!
Waddington – Sept 23rd Picnic at the base. Let Kath know if you would like to join us so that transport can be arranged

Dates for your Diary
June 9th – Peace in the Park
June 30th – Green Fair
July 4th – Menwith Hill
Aug 6th – Hiroshima Day
Aug 12th – Nagasaki Picnic
Sept 23rd – Waddington

Contacts: Secretary - Kath Cripps 2680726 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Treasurer: Stewart Kemp - 89, Rustlings Road, Sheffield S11 7AB

Next meeting June 20th QMH 7-30pm

ACT NOW TO CREATE A WMD-FREE ZONE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

This is the message from supporters of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament  to Ambassador Peter Woolcott, who will this weekend chair the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Preparatory Committee in Vienna.

Kate Hudson, CND General Secretary, will deliver personalised messages from CND supporters to Ambassador Woolcott, calling on the conference to take 'concrete action' towards a Weapons of Mass Destruction-Free Zone (WMDFZ) in the Middle East, and make further progress on global disarmament. In 2010, 189 countries voted at the NPT Review Conference for steps to be taken towards implementing a WMDFZ in the Middle East. The result was the scheduling of a landmark conference, convened by Finland, to take place in late 2012. This conference aims to bring to the table all states in the Middle East in order to start face-to-face negotiations towards outlawing nuclear weapons and other WMDs in the Middle East.

'The vision of a WMD-Free Zone in the Middle East can only be realised through a combined approach of constructive debate and concrete action,' said Kate Hudson. 'The timing is critical. Tensions in the Middle East have heightened amidst speculation over Iran's nuclear ambitions, and this has not been helped by aggressive rhetoric.'

'Meanwhile, nuclear weapons states are ignoring their own disarmament obligations and are ploughing ahead with replacing and modernising their nuclear arsenals. This only serves to encourage further proliferation and make the world a more dangerous place.' 'WMD-Free Zones have been implemented in other areas of the world such as South America and Africa, and there is currently no more crucial region for this to come about than the Middle East. We must act now or consign future generations to a lifetime of insecurity.'

LETTER WRITING CAMPAIGN

A NATO Summit will be held in Chicago on 20-21 May. The G8 Summit, with which it was intended to coincide, has been moved to the high-security venue Camp David because extensive protest demonstrations are expected - the plans for policing are alarming. The agenda will include an explicit discussion of nuclear deterrence for the first time since the end of the Cold War as well as missile 'defence' and the Middle East. See details at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Chicago_Summit.

There are several issues we can usefully raise in our letters this month:

• In today's world, NATO must review its objectives in the light of the UK 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, which prescribed moving on from
• Cold War thinking. The Lisbon Summit statement "as long as there are nuclear weapons in the world, NATO will remain a nuclear power" needs revising; it prevents progress towards the disarmament required by the Non-Proliferation Treaty (Articles I & II) and its hypocrisy feeds the proliferation which the UK and NATO claim to deplore.
• Sharing our nuclear technology with other states directly contravenes the NPT. The US tactical nuclear weapons which remain in Europe - Belgium,
• Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey - against the wishes of some of the "host" countries, should be removed.
• Trident, militarily useless, should be scrapped instead of being replaced at immeasurable cost.
• Discussions of the Middle East should concentrate on negotiations for a WMD-Free Zone in the area, which the 2010 NPT Review Conference has taken
• steps to pursue, and which has been overwhelmingly voted for by the UN General Assembly since 1974.
• Please write to Rt Hon David Cameron MP, Prime Minister, 10 Downing Street, London, SW1A 2AA. Email via http://www.number10.gov.uk/footer/contact-us
• using the link (though a letter may get more attention). Please send a copy to your MP.

MENWITH HILL

Kath has copies of the new report. We will be visiting on the 4th July

RAF WADDINGTON

After our successful visit to Waddington on April 1st we have decided to go again on Sept 23rd to commemorate UN International Day of Peace. This will be a Peace Picnic hopefully with some entertainment. Please put the date in your diary now and if you can contribute some music or poetry etc please contact Kath.

Next Meeting May 16th QMH 7-30