Nuke the Nukes and Scrap Instruments of Death

Trident, nuclear weapons, Big Daddy, Duke Nukem- whatever you call it, the phallic status symbol docked on Scotland’s west coast has several clingy admirers desperate to extend an ailing relationship. Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and ISIS’ sinister ascendancy, commentators have clutched our not so independent nuclear deterrent closely, wailing unilateral disarmament in our chaotic era would be madness. Enter Jeremy Corbyn and the unilateralists, the most dangerous band you’ve ever hated. Since Corbyn burgled Labour’s throne from rotting Blairites, he’s steadily decontaminated the party of its pax-Toryana image, nuking nukes being the emblem of potential sea-change. Evictees have since frothed from the backbenches, fighting viciously to maintain Labour’s pro-deterrent stance by indulging in the sport Corbyn assiduously partook in when he was an unknown MP: long-distance rebellion.

Within Labour, discussion around Trident was anaesthetised at last October’s Conference by party members, but once the debate rumbles into view again Corbyn and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell must lead the charge with conviction. Labour’s red Tories overwhelming the party nestle smugly in political discourse’s right-wing berth, evidenced by the abhorrent reaction to Corbyn’s reasserted unilateralism. It is wholly immoral that a man with a slight aversion to nuclear holocaust was characterised as an extremist intent on wilfully endangering the country he clearly adores for the sake of his political legacy. The ‘sensible’ mainstream position he offended, a ‘war is peace’-cum-rather them than us blitz, raises a few queries about who the real extremists are.

As we saw with the recent tragedies in Paris and the 7/7 attacks, nuclear weapons of two permanent members of the UN Security Council didn’t prevent bloodshed. Terrorism, at the risk of losing my one reader, is an asymmetrical threat that cannot be countered with apocalyptic weaponry. Lithe, amorphous groups sustained by fluid capital and surreptitious arms deals cannot be destroyed by nukes any more than conventional armies can without cataclysmic loss of life, therefore quixotic methods must be fruitlessly tossed about in articles no one important will read. David Cameron should’ve used Britain’s considerable hard and soft power to press for sanctions against maniacal autocrats in Qatar and Kuwait who fund and arm a panoply of terror enthusiasts. But the world will see a full Nirvana reunion before these measures are taken, because the Gulf States are Cameron’s allies in injustice facilitating the acquisition of Britain’s regional interests, making Cameron’s de facto support for the terrorists he allegedly despises today’s worst kept secret.

The oncoming hailstorm of pejoratives masquerading as objective journalism will be composed of personal abuse, manipulated information and massaged statistics that will make The Day After Tomorrow look like The Snowman. Unilateralists must fight a propagandistic war if they are to successfully counter the scribes and bile ducts of the Tory press and use historical and political cases to justify unilateralism, otherwise they will sink in public roars of ‘traitor’. Corbyn and McDonnell have forced unilateral disarmament back into mainstream debate, potentially severing decades of the Washington Consensus between ‘Labour’ and Tories compromising our safety. We shouldn’t wait for other countries to disarm before doing the right thing, but instead lead the way and strive for multilateral disarmament, even carefully targeted economic sanctions against governments who refuse to relinquish instruments of carnage. With the right support and intellectual arguments, Corbyn and McDonnell, along with their allies, can ensure our safety.