MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th March, 2021) Instead of spending money on weapons of mass destruction, the UK, as any other nation, should instead direct efforts to "real and urgent challenges," including climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, Linda Pentz Gunter from United States-based Beyond Nuclear, a nonprofit pushing for abandoning both nuclear power and nuclear arms, told Sputnik.
On Tuesday, the UK government released a new integrated review of security, defense, development and foreign policy which states that the country would bolster its nuclear weapon stockpile from 180 to 260 warheads in light of the "evolving security environment."
"The UK does not need more nuclear weapons. It needs none. What would it do with its nuclear weapons and under what circumstances? The obscene expenditure, by any country including the UK, on these ultimate weapons of mass destruction, should instead be directed toward real and urgent challenges, especially climate change and the pandemic, as well as to other essential social needs such as health services, housing and jobs," Pentz Gunter said.
According to her, boosting the number of warheads of the UK is also a clear violation of the terms of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to which the UK is a signatory.
"Deterrence is demonstrably a myth and the world is not served when bristling with thousands of lethal weapons. It is served by humanity coming together to solve our common problems and directing our resources toward our collective survival. Spending billions on useless nuclear weapons robs us of the chance to address critical problems of survival. Using them would rob us of our existence," Pentz Gunter concluded.
The long-awaited integrated review, which re-examines the UK's priorities and objectives on defense, security, development and foreign policy and defines the country's place in the world, following the departure from the European Union in January, has been more than a year in the making. Within the strategy, the UK pledged to deter and defend against the "full spectrum of threats" emerging from Russia and, adding that it views China as a potential threat to the country's economic security.
