Post by Andrei Tchentchik on May 28, 2020 10:48:01 GMT 2
(.#B.046).- World nuclear arsenal for 2019.
World nuclear arsenal for 2019.
JEAN-MARIE COLLIN
June 17, 2019.
Jean-Marie Collin is since 2009 associate researcher at the Research and Information Group on Peace and Security (GRIP) and expert / spokesperson of ICAN France, national relay of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Nobel Prize Peace 2017. He works on international defense and security issues with more specific expertise on the themes of arms control, nuclear deterrence, non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament, which has enabled him to participate in the whole process (2010/2017) known as the “humanitarian initiative” and the negotiation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Intervening regularly in different national and international institutions, he is the author of numerous articles and books including La Bombe, Univers opaque du nuclear (Ed Autrement, 2009) and most recently of L'illusion nuclear: the hidden side of the bomb atomic (with P. Quilès and M. Drain, May 2018, ELCM editions).
SIPRI - Stockholm International Peace Research Institute - has released the new state of the world's nuclear arsenal. Nine nuclear powers have approximately 13,865 nuclear warheads, of which 3,750 are deployed and nearly 2,000 are kept on high operational alert; are ready to use!
If we only retain the figure of "13,865", this is the lowest figure ever reached since 1959 (the arsenal then being made up of 13,424 warheads belonging to the United States with 12,298, at the Russia with 1048 and in the United Kingdom with 78 warheads). The global arsenal has therefore been in constant decline in recent years, and this, as SIPRI points out, "mainly because of the bilateral American-Russian disarmament treaties", today the New Start, which will end in 2021 (unless extended until in 2026). In fact, last year (in 2018) the global arsenal was 14,465, or 600 less, mainly due to this New Start.
But note that the British nuclear arsenal - currently up to 200 - is also declining and steadily, with the reduction of about fifteen warheads; following a previous decrease of 10 warheads in 2015.
France has remained at the same level since 2011 with a nuclear arsenal of 300 weapons. It is necessary to note that the elements of political language have evolved over the past ten years on the size of this arsenal:
• March 21, 2008 (Cherbourg speech), President Sarkozy had indicated that this arsenal would be "less than 300" warheads by 2011.
• February 19, 2015 (speech in Istres), President Hollande had indicated that the volume of his weapons stock was "300".
• May 14, 2019 (speech by diplomat A. Delaroche, Conference on Disarmament), it seems that we have reached a diplomatic compromise, since now the expression used is: "the French arsenal is made up of a ceiling of 300 weapons "
However, this reduction in the global arsenal must be put into perspective. Indeed, SIPRI mentions that the nine nuclear states are launched in programs to modernize and renew their arsenals. As such, French parliamentarians voted in July 2018, with the 2019/2025 Military Programming Law, to increase the nuclear weapon budget by 60%; a total amount of 37 billion euros, ensuring by 2022/2025 an annual budget of between 6 and 7 billion euros. For 2019, this budget is 4.05 billion euros ...
It should also be noted that this movement is criticized by a vast majority of the United Nations states, as I saw when I participated in the last preparatory committee (April 27 - May 10) for the 2020 NPT Review conference. L South African Ambassador summed up the situation well on the unwillingness to achieve a real nuclear disarmament process: "some States Parties cannot function as a small gang", thus addressing the United States, Russia , in the United Kingdom, in France and in China…
Reactions:
As a spokesperson for ICAN France, I note that "this reality described by SIPRI refers to the total lack of compliance by France with these disarmament obligations accepted through the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The fact that 93.33% of the French arsenal is on alert, raises the question of the reality of a nuclear deterrent which is understood, according to diplomatic language, “only in the context of a defensive strategy ”! As always we are faced with double talk. "
In addition, P. Bouveret, also spokesperson for ICAN France, notes that “the report drawn up by SIPRI reflects the decision of President Macron to spend 37 billion euros on the modernization and renewal of all nuclear weapons systems. French. It is therefore 13.7 billion more compared to President Hollande or 16.75 billion more compared to President Sarkozy! This desire to pursue a policy of the past century raises the question of knowing whether the current government really wants to ensure the safety of life for the French or to support only the order books of defense industries? "
F I N .
World nuclear arsenal for 2019.
JEAN-MARIE COLLIN
June 17, 2019.
Jean-Marie Collin is since 2009 associate researcher at the Research and Information Group on Peace and Security (GRIP) and expert / spokesperson of ICAN France, national relay of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Nobel Prize Peace 2017. He works on international defense and security issues with more specific expertise on the themes of arms control, nuclear deterrence, non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament, which has enabled him to participate in the whole process (2010/2017) known as the “humanitarian initiative” and the negotiation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Intervening regularly in different national and international institutions, he is the author of numerous articles and books including La Bombe, Univers opaque du nuclear (Ed Autrement, 2009) and most recently of L'illusion nuclear: the hidden side of the bomb atomic (with P. Quilès and M. Drain, May 2018, ELCM editions).
SIPRI - Stockholm International Peace Research Institute - has released the new state of the world's nuclear arsenal. Nine nuclear powers have approximately 13,865 nuclear warheads, of which 3,750 are deployed and nearly 2,000 are kept on high operational alert; are ready to use!
If we only retain the figure of "13,865", this is the lowest figure ever reached since 1959 (the arsenal then being made up of 13,424 warheads belonging to the United States with 12,298, at the Russia with 1048 and in the United Kingdom with 78 warheads). The global arsenal has therefore been in constant decline in recent years, and this, as SIPRI points out, "mainly because of the bilateral American-Russian disarmament treaties", today the New Start, which will end in 2021 (unless extended until in 2026). In fact, last year (in 2018) the global arsenal was 14,465, or 600 less, mainly due to this New Start.
But note that the British nuclear arsenal - currently up to 200 - is also declining and steadily, with the reduction of about fifteen warheads; following a previous decrease of 10 warheads in 2015.
France has remained at the same level since 2011 with a nuclear arsenal of 300 weapons. It is necessary to note that the elements of political language have evolved over the past ten years on the size of this arsenal:
• March 21, 2008 (Cherbourg speech), President Sarkozy had indicated that this arsenal would be "less than 300" warheads by 2011.
• February 19, 2015 (speech in Istres), President Hollande had indicated that the volume of his weapons stock was "300".
• May 14, 2019 (speech by diplomat A. Delaroche, Conference on Disarmament), it seems that we have reached a diplomatic compromise, since now the expression used is: "the French arsenal is made up of a ceiling of 300 weapons "
However, this reduction in the global arsenal must be put into perspective. Indeed, SIPRI mentions that the nine nuclear states are launched in programs to modernize and renew their arsenals. As such, French parliamentarians voted in July 2018, with the 2019/2025 Military Programming Law, to increase the nuclear weapon budget by 60%; a total amount of 37 billion euros, ensuring by 2022/2025 an annual budget of between 6 and 7 billion euros. For 2019, this budget is 4.05 billion euros ...
It should also be noted that this movement is criticized by a vast majority of the United Nations states, as I saw when I participated in the last preparatory committee (April 27 - May 10) for the 2020 NPT Review conference. L South African Ambassador summed up the situation well on the unwillingness to achieve a real nuclear disarmament process: "some States Parties cannot function as a small gang", thus addressing the United States, Russia , in the United Kingdom, in France and in China…
Reactions:
As a spokesperson for ICAN France, I note that "this reality described by SIPRI refers to the total lack of compliance by France with these disarmament obligations accepted through the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The fact that 93.33% of the French arsenal is on alert, raises the question of the reality of a nuclear deterrent which is understood, according to diplomatic language, “only in the context of a defensive strategy ”! As always we are faced with double talk. "
In addition, P. Bouveret, also spokesperson for ICAN France, notes that “the report drawn up by SIPRI reflects the decision of President Macron to spend 37 billion euros on the modernization and renewal of all nuclear weapons systems. French. It is therefore 13.7 billion more compared to President Hollande or 16.75 billion more compared to President Sarkozy! This desire to pursue a policy of the past century raises the question of knowing whether the current government really wants to ensure the safety of life for the French or to support only the order books of defense industries? "
F I N .
