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Unfortunately I was unable to follow the proceedings and can't comment on the quality of the debate. I was fed up with the simplistic arguments used by both sides on programmes like Newsnight and Question Time. Nobody asked the questions that were on my mind such as:
Would we be better off if we phased out our nuclear weapons and adopted a less interventionist position like Germany? How precisely would we be damaged?
Better off - yes, in £ terms. Germany is less interventionist not by choice, but because of the horrors of WW2, the complete annihilation of the German state, and the forced de-armament and subjugation of the nation by the victorious allies. Your question here might be better put as "can mankind live in peace" I firmly believe that I can, that you probably can and that the Germans can, along with the rest of the west. Do you beleive that some of the states around the world that are now developing or have N weapons can? Have they been though an enlightenment? Are their opinions about the world subject entirely to what the the state tells them to beleive through propaganda? have they the same value for human life as us? Life expectancy in russia is 50 odd for men, the chinese execute 1,000s every year for 'crimes', the N.Koreans as recently as (what?) 2001 used the starvation and death of millions of their own citizens as a bargaining chip... against the US and S. Korea and Japan.
How independant is our nuclear deterrent. How much influence does the possible threat of withdrawing support for our missiles give the US over our foreign policy?
I have no idea, but I'd be surprised if the American's can't stop it hitting new york. Indeterminate, My impression is that the whole power political elite of the UK, politicians, civil servants etc, go weak at the knees in front of the americans, it doesn't occur to then to fight for our national interest so the americans never have to bother playing hard ball. Remember we (UK) have leverage over them (US) too, again i know only whats in the press but remember most of the sig int from Europe, and lots of it from the rest of the world that the americans benefit from both strategically, and commercially (if you beleive the european parliamnet that is) is placed on British territory, bet thats worth more the americans than what we pay them for trident...
How does our close alliance/dependance on the US affect our relationship with the rest of the EU? Is this unequal relationship still in our interest?
Swings and round abouts, we do gain in europe because of our close relationship with the US especially now that we have the 10 acsescion states, we are widely considered to have thebest negotiating team in europe, we get a good deal from them, or rather they make the best of a deal that is bad for us financially.
How would our position/influence within the EU be affected if we left France as the sole European nuclear power?
It would decrease our influence, more importantly we'd have no excuse left to remain on the security council, other nations would be very much less interested in persuading us of their point of view (you scratch my back I'll scratch yours), and trying to influence (or buy) ours.
Was there any possibilty of buying into the French M52 missile programme. How much would it cost? Would the French be interested? Could this give us a genuinely independant capability? How would the split from the USA affect the UK?
Yes, same as the yanks (if i were the french, ou would after all be the only supplier, unless the UK buys their weapons off of Israel? I presume we definitly don't want to buy some off of Pakistan or India?) with considerably less capability.
Your thoughts please?
Good questions.
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