Word: nato
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...came into force, it is technically legal. But as signatories to the NPT, the four European countries and the U.S. have pledged "not to receive the transfer ... of nuclear weapons or control over such weapons directly, or indirectly." That, of course, is precisely what the long-standing NATO arrangement entails...
...disarmament - part of its obligation under the treaty. Last year a U.S. Air Force report found that the European bases storing the weapons were failing to meet security requirements to safeguard the weapons. These revelations cemented the unpopularity of the agreement. Belgium's Parliament had already unanimously requested that NATO withdraw the weapons, while a 2006 poll found that almost 70% of people in the four countries want the U.S. nukes withdrawn. In October, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle declared that Barack Obama's speech in Prague in April, in which the U.S. President called for countries to renew...
...elements in the NATO military structure are protective of the weapons. In 2008 a speaker for the Secretary of Defense Task Force on Nuclear Weapons Management said the bombs were an important guarantee of NATO security and also supported nonproliferation efforts by preventing allied states from developing their own weapons programs. The report concluded that the presence of B-61s in Europe "remains an essential political and military link between European and North American members of the alliance...
These justifications infuriate arms-control experts, who point out that NATO countries continue to be protected by hundreds of land- and submarine-based long-range nuclear-tipped missiles. "The nuclear umbrella can be continued by long-range forces just like it was in the Pacific after [nuclear] weapons were withdrawn from South Korea in 1991," says Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists. As for the concern that allied countries might be driven to develop their own weapons, Kristensen is scathing: "How many [European] countries would seriously consider acquiring their own weapons if things changed? Denmark? Iceland? Portugal? Seriously...
Recent U.S.-Russia bilateral negotiations to reduce long-range weapons did not cover B-61s in Europe. Obama's ongoing "nuclear posture review" and NATO's review of its strategic concept may call for an end to nuclear burden-sharing. But if the issue is not addressed soon, countries may take their own steps to get rid of the weapons. In 2001, when the Greek air force ordered a new fighter jet, it chose a model that could not carry the B-61, forcing the U.S. to withdraw its weapons there. The U.S. still keeps weapons in Turkey, but some...