{"id":68575,"date":"2013-03-22T11:55:42","date_gmt":"2013-03-22T09:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/?p=68575"},"modified":"2014-01-08T02:00:43","modified_gmt":"2014-01-08T00:00:43","slug":"belgium-or-iran-wheres-the-nuclear-threat-europes-five-undeclared-nuclear-weapons-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2013\/03\/22\/belgium-or-iran-wheres-the-nuclear-threat-europes-five-undeclared-nuclear-weapons-states\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgium or Iran, Where\u2019s The Nuclear Threat? Europe\u2019s Five \u201cUndeclared Nuclear Weapons States\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are Turkey, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands and Italy Nuclear Powers?<\/span><\/h2>\n
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\n
By\u00a0Prof Michel Chossudovsky<\/div>\n
Region:\u00a0<\/span>Europe<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Theme:\u00a0Militarization and WMD,\u00a0US NATO War Agenda<\/div>\n
In-depth Report:\u00a0Nuclear War<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
[This article was originally published by Global Research\u00a0 in February 2010 under the title:\u00a0<\/span>Europe’s Five “Undeclared Nuclear Weapons States”\u00a0<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

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According to\u00a0a recent report, former NATO Secretary-General George Robertson confirmed that Turkey possesses\u00a040-90 \u201cMade in America\u201d nuclear weapons\u00a0at the Incirlik military base<\/em>.(en.trend.az\/)
\n
\nDoes this mean that Turkey is a nuclear power?<\/em>
\n
\n\u201cFar from making Europe safer, and far from producing a less nuclear dependent Europe, [the policy] may well end up bringing more nuclear weapons into the European continent, and frustrating some of the attempts that are being made to get multilateral nuclear disarmament,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0(Former NATO Secretary-General George Robertson\u00a0<\/em>quoted in Global Security, February 10,\u00a02010)<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Is Italy capable of delivering a thermonuclear strike?\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Could the Belgians and the Dutch drop hydrogen bombs on enemy targets?\u2026<\/p>\n

Germany\u2019s air force couldn\u2019t possibly be training to deliver bombs 13 times more powerful than the one that destroyed Hiroshima, could it?\u2026<\/p>\n

Nuclear bombs are stored on air-force bases in Italy, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands \u2014 and planes from each of those countries are capable of delivering them.\u201d\u00a0(\u201cWhat to Do About Europe\u2019s Secret Nukes.\u201dTime Magazine, December 2, 2009)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The \u201cOfficial\u201d Nuclear Weapons States<\/strong><\/p>\n

Five countries, the US, UK, France, China and Russia are considered to be \u201cnuclear weapons states\u201d (NWS), \u201can internationally recognized status conferred by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)\u201d.\u00a0Three other \u201cNon NPT countries\u201d (i.e. non-signatory states of the NPT) including\u00a0India, Pakistan and North Korea, have recognized possessing nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n

Israel: \u201cUndeclared Nuclear State\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Israel is identified as an \u201cundeclared nuclear state\u201d. It produces and deploys nuclear warheads directed against military and civilian targets in the Middle East including Tehran.<\/p>\n

Iran
\n<\/strong>
\nThere has been much hype, supported by scanty evidence, that Iran might at some future date\u00a0become a nuclear weapons state. And, therefore,\u00a0a pre-emptive defensive nuclear attack on Iran to annihilate its non-existent nuclear weapons program should be seriously contemplated \u201cto make the World a safer place\u201d. The mainstream media abounds with makeshift opinion on the Iran nuclear threat.<\/p>\n

But what about the five European \u201cundeclared nuclear states\u201d including Belgium, Germany, Turkey, the Netherlands and Italy. Do they constitute a threat?<\/p>\n

Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy and Turkey:\u00a0\u201dUndeclared Nuclear Weapons States\u201d
\n<\/strong>
\nWhile Iran\u2019s nuclear weapons capabilities are unconfirmed, the nuclear weapons capabilities of these five countries including delivery procedures are formally acknowledged.<\/p>\n

The US has supplied some 480 B61 thermonuclear bombs to\u00a0five so-called \u201cnon-nuclear states\u201d, including Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.\u00a0Casually disregarded by the Vienna based UN Nuclear Watchdog (IAEA), the US has actively contributed to the proliferation of nuclear weapons in Western Europe.<\/p>\n

As part of this European stockpiling, Turkey, which is a partner of the US-led coalition against Iran along with Israel, possesses some 90 thermonuclear B61 bunker buster bombs at the Incirlik nuclear air base. (National Resources Defense Council, Nuclear Weapons in Europe\u00a0, February 2005)<\/p>\n

By the recognised definition, these five countries\u00a0are \u201cundeclared nuclear weapons states\u201d.<\/p>\n

The stockpiling and deployment of tactical B61 in these five \u201cnon-nuclear states\u201d\u00a0are intended for targets in the Middle East. Moreover, in accordance with\u00a0 \u201cNATO strike plans\u201d, these thermonuclear B61 bunker buster bombs (stockpiled by the \u201cnon-nuclear States\u201d) could be launched\u00a0 \u201cagainst targets in Russia or countries in the Middle East such as Syria and Iran\u201d ( quoted in\u00a0National Resources Defense Council, Nuclear Weapons in Europe\u00a0, February 2005)<\/p>\n

Does this mean that Iran or Russia, which are\u00a0potential targets of\u00a0a nuclear attack originating from one or other of these five so-called non-nuclear states should contemplate defensive preemptive nuclear attacks against Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Turkey? The answer is no, by any stretch \u00a0of the imagination.<\/p>\n

While these \u201cundeclared nuclear states\u201d casually accuse Tehran of developing nuclear weapons, without documentary evidence, they themselves have capabilities of delivering nuclear warheads, which are targeted at Iran.\u00a0 To say that this is a clear case of \u201cdouble standards\u201d by the IAEA and the \u201cinternational community\u201d is a understatement.<\/p>\n

\"nucleareurope\"<\/p>\n

Those estimates were based on private and public statements by a number of government sources and assumptions about the weapon storage capacity at each base<\/p>\n

<\/em>The stockpiled weapons are B61 thermonuclear bombs.\u00a0 All the weapons are gravity bombs of the B61-3, -4, and -10 types.2 .<\/p>\n

.(<\/strong>National Resources Defense Council, Nuclear Weapons in Europe<\/strong>\u00a0, February 2005)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Germany:\u00a0Nuclear Weapons Producer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Among the five \u201cundeclared nuclear states\u201d, \u201cGermany remains the most heavily nuclearized country with three nuclear bases (two of which are fully operational) and may store as many as 150 [B61 bunker buster ] bombs\u201d (Ibid).\u00a0In accordance with \u201cNATO strike plans\u201d (mentioned above) these tactical nuclear weapons are also targeted at the Middle East.<\/p>\n

While Germany is not categorized officially as a nuclear power, it produces nuclear warheads for the French Navy. It stockpiles nuclear warheads (made in America) and it has the capabilities of delivering nuclear weapons. Moreover,\u00a0\u00a0The European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company \u2013 EADS\u00a0, a Franco-German-Spanish\u00a0 joint venture, controlled by Deutsche Aerospace and the powerful Daimler Group is Europe\u2019s second largest military producer, supplying .France\u2019s M51 nuclear missile.<\/p>\n

Germany imports and deploys nuclear weapons from the US. It also produces nuclear warheads which are exported to France. Yet it is classified as a non-nuclear state.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are Turkey, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands and Italy Nuclear Powers? By\u00a0Prof Michel Chossudovsky Region:\u00a0Europe Theme:\u00a0Militarization and WMD,\u00a0US NATO War Agenda In-depth Report:\u00a0Nuclear War [This article was originally published by Global Research\u00a0 in February 2010 under the title:\u00a0Europe’s Five “Undeclared Nuclear Weapons States”\u00a0] According to\u00a0a recent report, former NATO Secretary-General George Robertson confirmed that Turkey possesses\u00a040-90 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":68576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[776,12,62,679,94,34],"tags":[1713],"class_list":["post-68575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-belgium-eu-members-european-countries-english","category-germany","category-iran_","category-italy-eu-members-european-countries-english","category-uk","category-usa","tag-nuclear-weapons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}