Saturday 10 December 2005

Campaign for Nuclear DisArmament

From the CAD (Campaign for Air Disarmament) in 1936:
CAD opposes both the use of force against Germany and any acquisition of air force capabilities by Germany. Bellicose statements from the UK and Poland have not helped to defuse the situation; on the contrary, they have increased political posturing on both sides and have proven counterproductive in resolving the issues. Further threats of force are likely to only increase the national pride of many Germans, already provoked by continual demands outside the requirements of the Kellogg-Briand Pact, making a peaceful and lasting solution even more difficult to come by. The sources of many of the UK allegations against Germany relating to a air weapons programme are German dissidents and exiles. Given the dubious, and apparently completely false, information given to the UK by German exiles about Germany’s alleged "Luftwaffe", we fully expect a more responsible and respectful position to be taken by the UK in relation to Germany.
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According to the Treaty of Paris, all nations have the right to a peaceful air programme, and CAD therefore respects Germany’s right to a peaceful civilian air programme. We strongly urge all countries that have not signed up to the Treaty of Paris to do so. This will help stabilise a region of the world where three air-armed countries, Poland, China and Manchukuo, have not signed the treaty. We also encourage all Air Weapons States to pursue negotiations in good faith towards aerial disarmament as required under Article VI of the Treaty.
Of course, that's fiction : but there were very many articles of the time in the same vein.

And we had many warnings. From Mein Kampf :
Hence, the German nation can defend its future only as a world power. For more than two thousand years the defense of our people's interests, as we should designate our more or less fortunate activity in the field of foreign affairs, was world history. We ourselves were witnesses to this fact: for the gigantic struggle of the nations in the years 1914-1918 was only the struggle of the German people for its existence on the globe, but we designated the type of event itself as a World War.
The German people entered this struggle as a supposed world power. I say here 'supposed,' for in reality it was none. If the German nation in 1914 had had a different relation between area and population, Germany would really have been a world power, and the War, aside from all other factors, could have been terminated favorably.
Germany today is no world power. Even if our momentary military impotence were overcome, we should no longer have any claim to this title. What can a formation, as miserable in its relation of population to area as the German Reich today, mean on this planet? In an era when the earth is gradually being divided up among states, some of which embrace almost entire continents, we cannot speak of a world power in connection with a formation whose political mother country is limited to the absurd area of five hundred thousand square kilometers.
Hitler's Apocalyptic worldview, that a war of conquest was a neccessary and inevitable consequence of 2,000 yesrs of struggle, should have been a warning to everyone.

Today's Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has a quite different attitude from it's predecessors of the 1930's.
CND opposes both the use of force against Iran and any acquisition of nuclear weapons capabilities by Iran. Bellicose statements from the US and Israel have not helped to defuse the situation; on the contrary, they have increased political posturing on both sides and have proven counterproductive in resolving the issues. Further threats of force are likely to only increase the national pride of many Iranians, already provoked by continual demands outside the requirements of the NPT, making a peaceful and lasting solution even more difficult to come by. The sources of many of the US allegations against Iran relating to a nuclear weapons programme are Iranian dissidents and exiles. Given the dubious, and apparently completely false, information given to the US by Iraqi exiles about Iraq’s alleged WMD capabilities, we fully expect a more responsible and respectful position to be taken by the US in relation to Iran.
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According to the NPT, all nations have the right to a peaceful nuclear energy programme, and CND therefore respects Iran’s right to a peaceful civilian nuclear programme. We strongly urge all countries that have not signed up to the NPT to do so. This will help stabilise a region of the world where three nuclear-armed countries, Israel, Pakistan and India, have not signed the treaty. We also encourage all Nuclear Weapons States to pursue negotiations in good faith towards nuclear disarmament as required under Article VI of the NPT.
See the difference? And listen to what new Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadi-nejad has to say
We are in the process of a historical war between the World of Arrogance [the west] and the Islamic world, and this war has been going on for hundreds of years. The situation at the fronts has changed many times. During some periods, the Muslims were the victors and were very active and the World of Arrogance was in retreat . . . During the period of the past 100 years, the walls of the world of Islam were destroyed and the World of Arrogance turned the regime occupying Jerusalem into a bridge for its dominance over the Islamic world...
<sarcasm>No threat there, is there?</sarcasm>

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