Safeguarding freedom so that we may be
free from corrupt representation, factional
impositions & unjust settlements ...


Trident

Trident is one of the world's most expensive suicide belts, the only difference between this and the lowly down market belts is that fanatics who wear these belts really do press the button. The whole "idea" behind Trident was that the objective of the game is to pretend that you will press the button in an act of mutual suicide when in reality it is very unlikely that anyone in their right mind would press the button. This is a completely irrational instrument for defence or even less for attack. It is a totem pole to lunacy and a justification for the waste of economic resources that sprung up after the Second World War as the "ultimate weapon" that was acquired by both sides in what evolved into a cold war. The cold war provided the constant justification for military spending with nuclear warheads proliferating to a scale enabling the liquidation of "enemies" and therefore assured self-destruction of one's own population, several times over.

Trident grew up in the post-war period where the mind set of strategists was moulded by the recent experience of symmetrical conflicts and with the memories of ancient asymmetrical tactics of warfare having been long forgotten, or at least, not taken into account. To a large extent this was also cause by a tendentious bias on "sophisticated", read very expensive, military contracts elaborated by the ever-increasingly influential military-industrial complex identified in the farewell address of President Dwight D. Eisenhower on January 17, 1961.

Politicians love this type of project because of the amounts of funding allow a deep political influence but at the same time the military-industrial-financial lobbies become extremely active because the amount of money at stake making corruption at all levels within any procurement process potentially rampant. And it is this that Eisenhower also referred to when he stated,

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military–industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together."



The money involved in Trident provides little protection for the people of Britain but ample opportunities for corruption
Trident's utility

There have been ample demonstrations of people committing suicide in an act designed to also kill some people who they assume to be ignorant of their cause, to be opposed to it or just "enemy". However we now know that the conventional interpretation of such events as being the work of ad hoc fanatics to be wrong. Such fanatics are actively funded and supported by states such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the USA. Such proxy agents are very well funded and supplied and the tendency is for escalation in the sophistication of weaponry. This means the whole purpose of having a deterrent, such as Trident, is to keep people guessing as to whether or not it will be used, has evapourated. Trident, in reality, no longer has this deterrent status because there are increasing numbers of militants who if provided with the opportunity would indeed deploy such weapons irrespective of any "retaliation" or attempts to "deter" on the basis of Britain possessing any nuclear capabilities. The social media and other means of communication have exposed the weakens and relative success of fanatics in asymmetrical warfare in being able to easily attack "soft targets". It should be realized that Trident is primarily designed as a deterrent based on the fact that it's target is a very large soft target, the population of some assumed enemy state. Therefore the evolving tactics under asymmetrical warfare includes states supplying proxy agents with such weapons to "finish the job". As a result Trident offers absolutely no defence either as a deterrent or retaliatory weapon, it is, as indicated, one of the world's most expensive suicide belts where the enemy does not really care if it will be used or not.

Given that today the main dangers to public safety are related to a dynamic between actions and reactions between asymmetrical forces and the advances in technology make alternative military means more effective in actually tackling aggression, the coming debate over Trident's future is well over-due. However, the debate is redundant, other than feather the nests of contractors and the bank accounts of some politicians, Trident has no longer any useful purpose.

APE-Agence Presse Européenne is an international news distribution, wire and syndication service independent of political parties, factions, statal and private organizations.
APE has a right of reply policy. We can be contacted using email: info@apeurope.org
Copyright©1996-2015, Hambrook Publishing Company