CND press Roundup, Thursday 10th March, 2022

• Morning Star quotes CND General Secretary Kate Hudson in a story on a Canadian investment research firm advising customers to keep investing despite the “uncomfortably high” chance of nuclear war. BCA Research told clients to “stay bullish” despite the existential risk, adding that their portfolios will become irrelevant in the case of a nuclear-armed confrontation. “While investors look to pick up cheap Russian and Ukrainian bonds as if they are picking over the bones on a battlefield, this advice to ignore ‘existential risk’ is the free market gone completely mad. Now is not the time to ignore the increasing nuclear threat, it’s the time to protest and survive,” Hudson said.

• Devon Live covers recent peace actions for Ukraine, with events in Barnstaple, Bideford, and South Molton. It quotes CND-member and town councillor Ricky Knight, an organiser of the Barnstaple demonstration: “These events were called by the Stop the War coalition and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, who are stressing that these demonstrations in support of Ukraine must continue until a ceasefire leads to a cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian soil. Many who took part were veterans of local anti-war movements and strongly voiced the need for constant vigilance and striving for peaceful resolution to conflicts.”

• The Mirror reports on calls by Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham in the Evening Standard for a nationwide discussion on nuclear disarmament, in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “We all need to dig in for the long haul behind Ukraine and its people. But we also need to start thinking beyond this. Ukraine should mark a watershed moment,” Burnham said. He also reiterated support for compensation for the British servicemen who were exposed to radiation as part of the UK’s nuclear weapons testing programme.

• The Times has a piece from Daniel Finkelstein on thinking the unthinkable in a column called “We need to start thinking about nuclear war.” He argues that “given the number of aggressive leaders who may not fear the death of their children, the horrific truth is that one day we may be subject to an attack with weapons of mass destruction” and that although “this is unthinkable” we “have to think about it”. He calls for the issue of nuclear weapons to be put to the centre of the political debate, concluding that “of course we should discuss our approach to weaponry that might kill millions, that could even make the Earth uninhabitable” and hopes that “the violent challenge from Putin will wake us from our slumbers.”

• Electricity supplies to the Chernobyl nuclear plant have been cut off after power lines were damaged by Russian troops. Energoatom, Ukraine’s nuclear energy operator, said the lack of power would impact the ability to cool spent nuclear fuel rods still present at the facility. At the operational Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Energoatom said radiation levels were normal as work is being carried out to repair buildings damaged last week by Russian shelling.

• The Telegraph writes that we should be more worried about Vladimir Putin using chemical weapons instead of nuclear ones in Ukraine, in an article citing the former US assistant defence secretary under Barack Obama, Andy Weber.

Trident

• National World has an explainer on Trident and explores the positions on it by Scotland’s political parties. It also has a contribution from Scottish CND chair Lynn Jamieson: “At present we are a prime target for nuclear attack and the launchpad for the commission of mass murder. The fact that instead nuclear weapons were ‘modernised’ and the NATO nuclear alliance expanded has contributed to Putin’s own distorted view of the world.”

Iran Nuclear Deal

• David Gardner writes in the Financial TImes about Russia’s attempts to derail the ongoing discussions to revive the Iran nuclear deal: “This naked attempt to punch through the wall of sanctions the west has imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine is the epitome of cynicism. Russian diplomats have devoted huge efforts to the Iran nuclear issue. But for Putin it has become just another blackmail weapon. In his lust for Ukraine, he is quite prepared to sabotage the deal — and rain tinder on what is normally the most combustible region in the world.”

UK Nuclear Energy

• The National has a summary of Keir Starmer’s comments at yesterday’s PMQs, with the Labour leader backing nuclear power during an attack on Boris Johnson’s handling of the energy crisis. In response to Johnson’s retort that he was delighted that Labour was backing nuclear energy, Starmer replied: “Come off it! Labour is pro-nuclear. This Prime Minister can’t get a single brick laid of a new nuclear plant.” The article also quotes Scottish CND: “It doesn’t make sense to resolve the energy crisis with something that is inherently extremely expensive to put together; takes a very long time before it produces any energy; and then gives us a huge problem with waste that we don’t have any means of resolving.” 

With best wishes,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament