More on UK Nukes
Ivo is right on the mark when he writes that Tony Blair missed a big opportunity to send an important message about the limited utility of nuclear weapons. What's really odd is how the politics of this played out.
A year and a half ago, former Tory defense minister Michael Portillo wrote a much-talked-about article calling for Britain to give up the bomb. At about the same time, Britain's anti-nuclear lobby, once a prominent force, inexplicably decided that its best bet was to accept a nuclear Britain, and, having done that, to lobby for an otherwise restrained policy. And for once, the anti-nuclear lobby won. Great timing, eh?
Advertisement
At about the same time, Britain's anti-nuclear lobby, once a prominent force, inexplicably decided that its best bet was to accept a nuclear Britain, and, having done that, to lobby for an otherwise restrained policy. And for once, the anti-nuclear lobby won. Great timing, eh?
I seem to have woken up on a planet where people make posts that make no sense according to the rules of human behavior as I understand them, and someone else then writes a post agreeing with them, a post that uses English words, but in a way that makes no sense to me. Maybe I'm having a bad day....
I'm reminded of George Orwell's "Politics And The English Language," where he says something to the effect that when people know they are dissembling, the language they use becomes vague and imprecise.
December 5, 2006 9:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am right on the mark when I write that Michael Levi missed a big opportunity to send an important message about the limited utility of nuclear weapons.
Wouldn't it be neat if Britain and Israel and N Korea got rid of their nukes? And Iran renounced its ambition to join the club? And the US?
The US? Exactly what message is the US sending when it opposes the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and talks about tactical nukes?
Until Levi and Daalder state their public opposition to American nukes, on that subject I hereby invite them to just... shut up.
December 5, 2006 10:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is very cryptic, Michael. Could you provide more specifics on which component of the UK disarmament community you are talking about? Maybe a link or two?
December 5, 2006 10:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think noblesseoblige, despite being a bit snide on this issue, is largely right -- let's be realistic, Ivo and Michael. What great power is *ever* going to voluntarily give up nuclear weapons, especially when, as in the case of the U.K. and France, nuclear capacity is one of its last remaining claims to great power status?
I think it's such a non-starter that to devote this much time, space and thought to it is primarily useful as an excercise in fantasy.
Ben Cronin
December 6, 2006 8:59 AM | Reply | Permalink