CND's Press Round-Up - 30th March 2021
Posted: 30th March 2021
Please find today’s press round up below. A continued thanks to all for your help and support.
Nuclear Weapons
Nuclear Weapons-U.S.A.
The Guardian has an exclusive on plans by Democratic legislators in Congress to end funding for the new Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD), cutting an initial $1 billion in the process. The Investing in Cures Before Missiles (ICBM) Act would also end spending on the warhead modification programme. The existing Minuteman III missile would have its use extended for another thirty years. Senator Ed Markey (D- Massachusetts), one of the authors of the Bill, is quoted as saying ‘The United States should invest in a vaccine of mass prevention before another new land-based weapon of mass destruction’. A similar effort was defeated resoundingly last year. The Biden administration’s first defence budget is expected in coming weeks.
The Defensives website has further details on the move, including those Democrats who have already pledged their support and the obstacles in the Bill’s path to success. It reports that the Bill’s authors sent a letter in early March to President Biden which advocated the end of two nuclear weapons programmes initiated under Donald Trump: the low-yield submarine-launched W76-2 warhead and the sea-launched cruise missile.
Nuclear Weapons-UK
In a blog for the Arms Control Association, Daryl Kimball provides a U.S. view on the recent decision to increase the UK’s number of nuclear warheads. As he notes, the move contradicts Britain’s stated position at the 2010 and 2015 Non-Proliferation Treaty review conferences, where pledges were made to decrease the size of the nuclear arsenal, whilst remaining the most transparent of the five nuclear-armed states. Kimball says that the UK has previously criticised China for its ‘excessive nuclear secrecy’. Moreover, the article notes that the decision will make bilateral Russia-U.S. arms control negotiations more difficult, since Russia wants the French and British nuclear programmes included in talks.
Nuclear Weapons-Scotland
The Conservative government’s decision to increase the UK number of nuclear warheads formed the centrepiece of Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s speech at the SNP Spring Conference, the Daily Mail reports. Sturgeon told the conference that ‘Weapons that could wipe out swathes of civilisation at a stroke are not just immoral – they represent an obscene waste of money’.
Iran-U.S. Relations
The Biden administration is briefing the U.S. press that it is attempting to re-start direct negotiations with Iran, according to the POLITICO website. Under its proposals, Iran would stop work on advanced centrifuges and stop enriching uranium to 20% purity in return for limited sanctions relief. An agreement Iran has with the International Atomic Energy Agency, which allows the IAEA access to Iranian nuclear sites expires in May. Campaigning for the Iranian presidential election is also expected to begin in May.
Anti-War
South China Sea
The Filipino national air force has been conducted patrols on a daily basis over a coral reef which both China and the country claim, according to Al Jazeera.This follows on from hundreds of Chinese fishing boats having been sighted by the reef. The Philippines also deployed naval and coast guard ships to the area. China is also involved in construction at an artificial island it has built atop the Subi Reef, which the Philippines claims too.
China-Taiwan Relations
The Taiwanese government has said that it has changed its policy in regards to Chinese incursions into its airspace, according to Reuters. Instead of scrambling military aircraft, it tracks Chinese aircraft using its surface-to-air missile defence system. The U.S. Congress approved a $620 million package to update this system in July of last year.
Nuclear Power
Nuclear Power-UK
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in its most recent business plan has set out a timetable for further clean up of the Dounreay former nuclear power plant in the North of Scotland. Reactor breeder and other nuclear power plant fuels will be transported and stored at the Sellafield site, according to the Herald.
With best wishes,
Michael Muir
Press and Communications Officer
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament