British Finance Minister Heckled Over Nuclear Policy

British finance minister Gordon Brown. Photo courtesy of AFP.

by Staff Writers
London (AFP) Oct 08, 2006
British finance minister Gordon Brown was heckled Sunday by a protestor over his stance on the renewal of the country's independent nuclear deterrent. Brown, who is likely to succeed Prime Minister Tony Blair who is to step down within a year, was taking questions from the audience at a book promotion session as part of the Edinburgh Book Festival.

One person asked about his support for a system to replace Britain's Trident submarine nuclear missile system, to which he said there had to be a public debate on the issue.

He noted that the number of states with nuclear weapons had increased, at which point audience member Janet Fenton shouted: "It's because you have not complied with the Non-Proliferation Treaty."

Fenton then attempted to hand Brown a letter, though when police moved in she dropped it on the stage in front of him. She was eventually allowed to return to her seat.

Brown said he would read the letter "carefully".

Source: Agence France-Presse

NUKEWARS

Sub Based Conventional Ballistic Missiles Could Trigger Nuclear Escalation

Washington (UPI) Oct 06, 2006
A former Pentagon official and frequent critic of U.S. ballistic missile programs warned Thursday the military's plan for a submarine-launched "global strike" conventional ballistic missile could trigger an accidental nuclear exchange with Russia. "It doesn't address a real problem and a real accident could get us all killed," said Theodore Postol, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and former scientific adviser to the chief of naval operations.

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