CND Press Digest: Tuesday 5th March 2024

NATO / Europe

• Simon Jenkins: NATO is growing reckless over Ukraine – and Russia’s German military leak proves it.
• The Telegraph: German leaks putting British troops at risk are ‘tip of the iceberg.’Russia sees Olaf Scholz as a ‘useful idiot’ and may have intercepted more secrets, say sources.
• Norway, Sweden and Finland host NATO military exercises. Nordic Response aimsto strengthen cooperation between countries and bolster alliance’s ability to defend region.
• NATO drills in reshaped north.
• The Times: NATO rehearses defence of Nordic lands.
• The Observer view on Emmanuel Macron: hawkish Ukraine remarks focus minds on Europe’s future.
• Reuters: NATO member Albania, which has no fighter jets of its own, opened a rebuilt Soviet-era air base to serve NATO aircraft on Monday amid an increased threat from Russia, Prime Minister Edi Rama said.

Middle East & North Africa

• Police aggression towards Gaza march observers ‘on the rise’ in UK as woman saysofficers knocked her over.
• A quarterly meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog’s main policy-making body began on Monday with Western powers again choosing not to seriously confront Iran over its failure to cooperate with the agency on a range of issues, diplomats said.

AUKUS / Indo-Pacific

• AUKUS: Are nuclear-powered submarines a good idea for Australia? There were always going to be questions about a nuclear-powered submarine deal with a (stated) price tag of up to $368 billion. But, as the dust settles on the AUKUS security pact and Australians patiently wait for the subs that come with it, some defence experts are warning that the deal could fall apart.
• VIDEO: Questions raised over the AUKUS deal. Much of the focus on the AUKUS submarine and defence deal has been on the question of which type of submarine Australia will get but the deal also involves access to US and UK technology.
• National Interest: Japan Could Join the AUKUS pogramme.

Nukes in Britain

• The BBC, Sky News, and Glasgow World on the creation by Rolls Royce of 200 jobsto make nuclear reactors for attack submarines.  
• UK Defence Journal: Rolls-Royce opening new offices in Cardiff and Glasgow.
• Pulling Trident from independent Scotland ‘would not embolden Putin.’ Angus Robertson said he wanted the weapons removed in the event of secession but refused to put a price tag on plans to set up defence capabilities.
• Removing nuclear weapons from Scotland in the “most expeditious manner possible” after leaving the UK should not prevent it from joining NATO, the Scottish Government’s latest paper on independence said.
• UK Defence Journal looks at the SNP’s recent policy paper, arguing that an independent Scotland would find it difficult (if not impossible) to join NATO and get rid of nuclear weapons from the country.
• Former UK CND Chair “Shocked” SNP won’t commit to independent Scotland nuke ban.
• Morning Star: No nukes but NATO’s says new independence paper.
• Naval Technology: Vanguard, Dreadnought, and Holbrook: a UK nuclear weapons upgrade triad.
• Reflections on Trident and disarmament: a personal journey with CND.
• SNP plan to ban nuclear weapons ‘a bid to have their cake and eat it’.

UK Nuclear Energy

• EDF’s Matthew Lay Plans for a new wave of atomic power have not factored in local concerns over the safety of the waste sites the schemes entail.

Nuclear Energy

• How can nuclear fit into a renewable grid where base load can’t compete? The federal Coalition is enthusiastically advocating for nuclear energy to help when ‘the sun don’t shine and the wind don’t blow’. This approach is fundamentally flawed, not just for nuclear, but for any high capital cost base load generator.
• As Australian opposition leader, Peter Dutton, prepares to announce an energy policy nominating up to six possible sites for nuclear plants, he faces internal divisionsabout the level of government support required, proposed locations and questions about storage of nuclear waste.
• Kyrgyzstan’s decision to ban uranium mining in 2019 was a hard-won victory for civil society and an acknowledgement of the tortured environmental legacy of industry during the Soviet era. But Kyrgyz officials are now calling for the ban to be lifted, as populist President Sadyr Japarov continues his pursuit of state-led production in the extractive industries that he first championed more than a decade ago as an opposition politician.
• European Union member states showed their divisions on nuclear energy policyon Monday, with one camp led by France promoting the technology and another, led by Austria and Germany, pushing to prioritise renewable energy sources instead.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament