Nuclear weapons

Nuclear arms and the replacement of Trident

Kino Eye. Oppenheimer: a complex film

Given the complexities of J Robert Oppenheimer’s life even the three hours of Christopher Nolan’s epic film probably aren’t enough.

Kino Eye: Fat Man and Little Boy

There is much talk at the moment about Oppenheimer . Let’s rewind some 30 years to a previous film about the Manhattan Project (the development of the atomic bomb): Fat Man and Little Boy (Roland Joffe, 1989). In the 1980s Ronald Reagan was increasing the US nuclear stockpile and the Cold War was at a new height. The film pits a gung-ho military establishment, personified by the Project supremo, the loudmouthed barrel-of-lard “Fat Man”, General Leslie Groves (Paul Newman minus the girth) against the skinny, “head-in-the-clouds” intellectual, “Little Boy”, J. Robert Oppenheimer (Dwight Schultz)...

The man who hated the Oscars

I detest the Oscars, so all praise to actor George C. Scott who once remarked: "The whole thing is a goddamn meat parade. I don’t want any part of it". Alongside Patton , Scott’s best known film is Doctor Strangelove (director Stanley Kubrick, 1964), a black satire on the Cold War. Scott plays General Buck Turgidson, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A rogue B-52 bomber is heading for the Soviet Union to drop its nuclear bombs and cannot be recalled because its radio has been destroyed. The reason is complex but involves a deranged USAAF Commander who is obsessed by his hatred of the...

Putin threatens nuclear war

Joe Biden, president of the USA, warns of nuclear “armageddon” if Russian President Vladimir Putin uses nuclear weapons against Ukraine. Biden believes that the world is closer now to nuclear war than at any point since the Cuban missile crisis, 60 years ago. Biden’s assessment is right. The US is increasingly alarmed about Putin’s violent anti-Western rhetoric and nuclear threats. Joe Biden’s spokesperson says, “Russia’s talk of using nuclear weapons is irresponsible, and there’s no way to use to use them without unintended consequences.” That is partly a statement of fact, and partly a...

Morning Star goes quiet on 40% more nukes

On 16 March the government set out its plan for a post-Brexit “global Britain” in the so-called “Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy”. One aspect of the review caused consternation even in the Tory press: “Shock plans to increase the country’s nuclear warheads by 40 per cent were met with fury last night... the remarkable move comes more than 50 years after the signing of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty” noted the Daily Mail . Even the Sun asked “And why do we need 80 more nukes... aren’t 180 city-destroying bombs enough?” The Mail also noted that “In...

The left should oppose nuclear weapons and NATO

When the New Statesman published Paul Mason’s provocatively titled article, “How the left could save Nato”, in late November 2019, it attracted a deserved torrent of criticism. But in the Labour leadership election that followed, neither the eventual left candidate, Rebecca Long-Bailey, nor the other tentative left contender, Clive Lewis, opposed participation in NATO. Indeed, Lewis had previously defended it. And from early on, Corbyn’s leadership had reconciled itself to maintaining the UK’s nuclear weapons and commitment to NATO. Now the Starmer leadership has upped the volume by describing...

Labour leader: the contest so far

At the moment at least, I am not supporting any of the candidates for Labour leader. In hustings, I think, activists should ask pointed questions, and ask members to judge the candidates by their responses. For example, no candidate has yet committed to work for wide democratic reforms in Labour’s still-largely-Blair-made structure. None has backed the Free Our Unions call for them to respect the 2019 Labour conference decision for repeal of all anti-union laws. None has said that they will seek to lead on-the-streets and industrial campaigning against Johnson. Rebecca Long-Bailey,Salford and...

Mock-workerism and the Scottish Labour Party

GMB Scottish Regional Secretary Gary Smith was accorded front page coverage in the 3 March 2019 “Herald on Sunday”. Billed as an “Exclusive”, the article in fact consisted of some extracts from an interview with Smith conducted by one of the pro-independence paper’s resident right-wing journalists, Paul Hutcheon. Hutcheon is still remembered for his notorious witch-hunting ‘articles’ about the Falkirk Labour selection contest and Grangemouth Ineos dispute of 2013 (although he has written no shortage of articles in a similar vein since then). Smith used the interview with Hutcheon as an...

Replacing nuclear by… gas?

Hitachi has shelved plans for a new nuclear plant at Wylfa, Wales, months after Toshiba scrapped plans in Moorside, Cumbria, and Horizon suspended work at Oldbury, Gloucestershire. These withdrawals by three private Japanese corporations leave gaps in the UK government’s already bad climate and energy strategy. Many old reactors are due to retire through the 2020s, and coal-fired power stations are due to be phased out by 2025. These new nuclear plants were due to fill the energy gap while contributing to the UK’s (insufficient) climate goals. Recent analysis from the Committee on Climate...

Trump to renew Iran deal

Donald Trump is set to maintain the 2015 “nuclear deal” with Iran when it comes up for renewal on 17 January. Under the deal Iran is obliged to restrict its nuclear programme in return for the easing of international sanctions. Trump had previously declared his intention to undo the nuclear deal, denouncing it as weakness in the face of the regime. Accordingly, he has had to hedge his renewal of the deal with much tough-sounding bluster and secondary sanctions. Trump and Republican politicians have suggested setting a deadline for “improvements” to the deal, including getting rid of the...

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