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NATO

UK Open to Debate on NATO's Nuclear Doctrine

24 February 1999

By Thomas Neve

During a recent Defence Select Committee meeting at the House of Commons, Defence Secretary George Robertson expanded upon the British position on the German proposal of No First Use of NATO's nuclear weapons. He argued that nuclear weapons are a political weapon and such a policy would undermine deterrence. He reiterated the measures taken in the 1998 Strategic Defence Review concerning transparency and the decrease in the numbers of warheads. Although firmly opposed to NFU, the government is willing to reconsider other areas of the nuclear chapter of the Strategic Concept. He continued that nuclear weapons are "weapons of last resort" and therefore a NFU argument is pointless because it would only tempt aggressors to risk launching a conventional or BCW attack.

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