A recent 1,866-word article, Making the case for the Trident replacement, essentially could be boiled down to the following: "... like it or not, nations that do not posses them will always be in the
second rank. If Britain is going to retain power and influence in the
world then we need the muscle to back this up..."
Honesty, at least! Unlike blathering attempts made by some to justify the U.K. retaining its "independent" nuclear deterrent without admitting to the real reason, this article at least has the honesty to admit to the only "good" reason for this to happen i.e without its nukes (and a few other artefacts of history, such as a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, the "special relationship" with the United states, etc.), the U.K. would be a third rate power.
The trouble is that this is precisely why some non-nuclear states covert the bomb! They too understand the truth, that it is mostly a matter of prestige, heft, and world standing...
For more, and why the U.K. should be denuclearized (via U.S. pressure if necessary....), see Zero Global Zero blog entry from 2008...
