35bn trident costs..what a waste of money

[Harleyman]

I think that without nuclear weapons the Cuban Missile Crisis would have almost certainly led to WW3 between the Warsaw Pact and Nato. If that war turn into a prolonged conflict the consequences would have been tremendous.

 

Spot on !

 

---------- Post added 12-04-2015 at 18:29 ----------

 

Actually, I think along the lines that if the French have it so must we.

 

Possibly. Who knows what dark secrets lie in the minds of politicians. Maybe some wizened old history obsessed French pol might still hate us for the loss of French Canada or the defeat at Waterloo.

[mjw47]

Indeed it is. But the Cuba missile crisis was a close example . Kennedy wisely chose not to listen to some of his advisors who recommended bombing the Russian missile sites and instead read Kruschev's first letter letter as a sign that the Soviet leader was anxious to avoid war.

 

A US Navy destroyer came a hairsbreadth close to depth charging a Soviet sub.

 

Imagine if some republican hawk had been in the White House instead of Kennedy. History re-written if anyone had been left to write it

 

Weren't there two letters, one which could be taken as reasonable and the other as aggressive and Kennedy chose to reply to the reasonable one and ignore the other, leaving the Russians unsure as to whether or not he had received it?

 

If we'd have had email we'd have been buggered!

 

I was fifteen and can clearly remember some people being convinced we were all going to die and kindly informing the rest of us as to their view on the matter.

 

---------- Post added 12-04-2015 at 19:32 ----------

 

Actually, I think along the lines that if the French have it so must we.

 

You've been watching those repeats of 'Yes Prime Minister' again haven't you?

[JFKvsNixon]

You've been watching those repeats of 'Yes Prime Minister' again haven't you?

 

The best sit com ever!

[mjw47]

The best sit com ever!

 

Sit com? The way things have gone over the last few years it was more like a documentary!

[JFKvsNixon]

Sit com? The way things have gone over the last few years it was more like a documentary!

 

The Thick Of It is the modern day version, if you haven't seen it check it out. It even shows the crucial difference in how our country is run.

 

In Yes Minister/Prime Minister basically the civil service ran the country. In The Thick Of It, the civil service have been sidelined by the political advisers and spin doctors.

[apelike]

They serves as a deterrent every day so we do use them every day, if we ever have the need to fire them you will be able to claim that they were useless in fulfilling their objective. They are a successful deterrent if they are never launched.

 

We were not bombed before their introduction in 1960's so I ask again, how many do we need as a deterrent?

[loraward]

We were not bombed before their introduction in 1960's so I ask again, how many do we need as a deterrent?

 

Enough to make anyone think twice about firing them at us.

[mjw47]

Enough to make anyone think twice about firing them at us.

 

There are 196 sovereign countries in the world.

 

Of which 9 have nuclear capability.

 

Take a moment and think about where the problem stems from.

[Obelix]

 

Get rid of them all.

 

You can't. That the crux of the matter.

 

It is trivially easy to build a simple uranium bomb. There is no way you can stop any really determined state from acquiring one.

[Marx]

If we are going to commit to Trident then we should use at least one or what is the point? Perhaps the tripoint of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran would be a suitable place to let one off?