Transcripts For DW DocFilm 20240713 : vimarsana.com

This soviet era submarine was once a military threat today its a tourist attraction. In the 1980 s. Millions of people protested against new Nuclear Weapons and entire generation lived in fear. At the end of the cold war thousands of Nuclear Weapons were withdrawn from europe and today top secret bases and Storage Facilities lie abandoned. These bunkers in a former american missile base in germany once housed Cruise Missiles this site now hosts a popular open air electronic Music Festival. The danger of Nuclear Conflict appears to have passed. But now new Nuclear Weapons destined for europe are being tested in the u. S. Nuclear war is more likely now. The height of the current world. And the Nuclear Problem has not gone away its its changed its become something new and different some analysts call this the 2nd nuclear age. And we need to you shell use his own were facing the most dangerous military and especially Nuclear Security situation in europe today since the collapse of the soviet union and that is that we are doing. Its deployment tartly theres talk of both the german and of a European Nuclear weapon if you ask me a german bomb would be dangerous nonsense but we may find ourselves discussing a european one in the next few years usually about. This is the village of the shale in western germany nearby is a German Air Force base where some 28 b. 61 American Nuclear bombs are said to be stored as part of a nato weapons sharing arrangement. With. Nuclear weapons expert tons christensen works for the federation of american scientists and the Stockholm International Peace Research institute. Christensen is convinced the devices are stored here devices that could be deployed against enemy forces. There are still tactical Nuclear Weapons yes. Only gravity bombs delivered by fighter jet aircraft they are the last remnant of a what used to be an enormous inventory of about 7000 tactical Nuclear Weapons but theyre still here in about 150 of them but only that one time. If a conflict arose these weapons could also be delivered by German Air Force planes. Americans have bases in europe but there are also 4 countries in europe that have host base arrangement as they call it call it a Nuclear Sharing Arrangements germany the netherlands belgium italy and possibly turkey so those countries are the ones who sort of serve a soto Nuclear Strike role where their aircraft would be equipped and handed over Nuclear Weapons in times of war. Until just a few years ago all Political Parties in the german one is talking head been calling for the Nuclear Weapons to be removed. These nato fighter jets are on patrol over the Baltic States their mission is to intercept any Russian Military aircraft that approach a nato air space without warning. A number of participants of the annual Munich Security Conference are concerned about growing tensions between east and west. The conference chairman is professor. In few yons idea. Since the ukraine crisis that is since 20146 where weve seen a massive increase in but say incidents. For and fortunately these of not lead to a real confrontation so far. For the foods which these incidents have taken place over the north sea the baltic sea and the black sea if theyve involved western and russian more ships and really terry are crushed basically he knew it was a. Military mission getting. These russian aircraft over the north sea were filmed by the British Royal air force. More and more nato aircraft are taking part in interception Missions Including going just careful. Its. Germany is making a substantial contribution to nato as program to help protect the Baltic States. But such busy skies are not without risk. That. Were still uses my for all those imagine what would happen if for example a Russian Military aircraft crossed the border there by accident or deliberately and was shot down by a western or American Forces like. Theres a big danger such an incident could lead to an escalation that quickly spirals out of control. So the tensions present here in europe today are a major cause for concern. Good to. See a bidding cliff. These u. S. B. 52 bombers are preparing to take part in a Training Exercise in the Baltic States. Many see this deployment as a message to russia. And it isnt the only message. Weve seen and types of exercises that we havent seen since the cold war were american be 52 bombers to fly up over the north pole to their launch point for Nuclear Cruise missiles and then return to their bases in the United States those kind of strike exercises were not done since the i mean thanks 180 s. It seems as though weve returned to the old game of cat and mouse that was common during the cold war. This situation reminds us trillion antinuclear activist and author Helen Caldicott of a time when the u. S. And the soviet union stood on the brink of nuclear confrontation. With well i got to norm Robert Mcnamara will whos 60 of friends and morris in the oval office with jack kennedy during the cuban missile crisis he said to me helen you dont know how close we came. To within 3 minutes quote unquote. I think the situation could well be compatible with that. Decisions to launch a Nuclear Strike need to be made quickly and then there are the crews who would actually launch the missiles caldicott has heard some alarming reports. The man in the missile silos in america. Is to have minutes just side they are aged 18 to 26 have live in dogs just so nervous or press the buttons are there with the pistol one shoot if one shows signs of deviant behavior but the deviant one much the other one recently its been determined that many of those men taking l. S. D. Not in their missile silos but beforehand and having wild socket experiences allowing at it taking marijuana cocaine and the like. Caldicott things a Nuclear Strike could be launched by mistake. Here both garnishing i meets dimitri training a former senior soviet army officer who took part in disarmament negotiations with the us. Both experts are concerned a new cold war may be in the works. The conflict may arise out of a military collision and places like syria and all the way to the Nuclear Level thats in some scenarios and could. The election of donald trump further complicated the situation the president has sharply criticized nato and even threatened to pull the us out of the alliance. Shortly after trump was elected Security Policy experts in germany began reviewing the possible consequences of the us defense becoming less reliable. Some have said that if washington is no longer willing to defend europe then perhaps germany should develop its own Nuclear Weapons. Its happening i was surprised when that debate came up in germany because here Nuclear Options have been strictly taboo and. Back in the 1980 s. Millions of germans took to the streets to protest nato preparations for deploying new Nuclear Missiles in europe to counter a soviet threat. Is a Prominent German political scientist. He has written an essay arguing that the country should lift the nuclear temper. It needs to be made clear that germany has a Nuclear Power would help strengthen the free western world it would support makes one liberal democracies and we need to explain that this would not be directed against any other states it would be purely defensive a deterrent that would enhance our security which is essential. Its not just about war and peace its also about protecting our country from blackmail in crisis situations like these. Nuclear weapons really provide more security for germany so far the government is not debating this question. But hockey has ideas and how would your main Nuclear Deterrent might function. Might could. We could develop Medium Range Missiles that have Nuclear Warheads that would provide low level to terence at a relatively low cost. Another option would be to use Nuclear Capable aircraft. The 3rd option would be to use conventional submarines equipped. With Nuclear Weapons. Could convince you know who want to meet nuclear. And its like if germany were to build such weapons it would create huge Security Problems in europe. And the russians would feel seriously threatened not least because of their experience in world war 2 we must see if that all it does began 62. 00 id really like to emphasize that a German Nuclear option would not be directed against russia it would be part of an all round defensive strategy the minds of enough and additional. German Nuclear Weapons program would cost taxpayers several 1000000000. 00 euros per year. And it would create legal problems. Germany renounced the development of Nuclear Weapons as part of the 1994 power treaty that led to unification. As they have it and 1st goes it would be a violation of our obligations if germany were to have its finger on a Nuclear Trigger trigger. That would be completely gone except about us. No one would trust germany with a bomb anyway with germanys history. But what about the future of the u. S. Nuclear program this is the facility in the nevada desert at which the pentagon develops and test weapons. Right now experts are working on the b. 61 model 12 the latest version of a tactical and Strategic Nuclear weapon. Its an expensive project. Divergent for 2911. 00 is estimated to be about 254000000. 00. The 61 can be deployed with a number of military aircraft including german tornado fighter bombers adaptation of those aircraft was scheduled for 2019 p 8200 integration refers to the tranny though a 200. In about 5 or 8 years there will be a new type of weapon more advanced thats going to be coming back to germany and be deployed here at google. But aircraft have to be configured for that type of aircraft for the for that type of weapon its called the b. 6112. 00. The tornado is right now undergoing flight test in the United States to be able to deliver this with the. German tornadoes on a u. S. Facility but your main military aircraft being outfitted with new u. S. Nuclear weapons could have far reaching consequences. Maxwell downman works for the london based think tank basic which supports Nuclear Disarmament he warns of possible dangers the last place russian missiles would go would be the b. 61 sites are there all so many hurdles for these things getting off the ground you would need to let the planes with the bombs because the bombs the plane the bombs on together these would need to take off then this is all presuming that russian missiles are coming and then once theyre flying you need. Refuel them in and and then you would need to fly them into russian aspace past russian Ballistic Missile defense before dropping freefall bombs compared the house to firing a missile there is huge risks with these things and they realistically would never get off the ground. And some experts say that the aircraft could be easily targeted while they are refueling. So why would germanys air force one to use Nuclear Weapons at all. Those highs. On the one hand we have to make an appropriate conventional contribution so that we can continue to have an influence on policy. But we must also be prepared to bear the burden and it is a burden of having Nuclear Weapons stationed on our territory or if necessary delivered by our aircraft. I think is. But its extremely important to understand the situation as part of our overall Nuclear Strategy. And our ability to help shape policy within the Nato Alliance this is. In short germany can continue to have a say in nato as Nuclear Strategy only if its prepared to use these weapons. This also applies to Nuclear Weapons Modernization Programs there are several nato Member States that say existing stocks of weapons are outdated need to be replaced. Christensen points out this process is already underway. As far as we can figure out the increased accuracy is about 3 times better then than it is with the existing weapons now what that means is that not only can you strike targets facilities much more fair. But you can also choose lower explosive yield settings for an attack that today requires a much higher yield sitting so thats more useable its less radioactive fallout so its a concern that were making Nuclear Weapons more useable. This weapon can be employed in ways its predecessor could not be. And russia will see that and say fine if the west is doing this then we also want to modernize and improve our weapons system. That could create a new arms race which in turn could lead to a new cold war. Several experts think this is now a distinct possibility. U. S. President donald trump announced his plans regarding Nuclear Policy at his 2018 stated the Union Address as part of our defense we must modernize and rebuild our Nuclear Arsenal hopefully never having 2 years it but making it so strong and so powerful that it will deter any acts of aggression by any other nation or anyone else. Has made clear that the u. S. Reserves the right to launch a Deterrent Nuclear 1st strike. While the United States is in the early phase of a complete overhaul of its Nuclear Arsenal and were talking about everything were talking about all Delivery Systems all warheads Nuclear Infrastructure of the factories Nuclear Command and control system so its the shoot on to taking. In fact its one of the largest projects of its kind. Report compiled by the Congressional Budget Office puts the total cost at 1. 00 trillion dollars as a 20. 17. But it seems likely that the pentagons weapons Modernization Program will be even more expensive than that. By comparison in 28000 germany spent just over 38000000000 euros on defense. The us plans to modernize Nuclear Attack submarines command and control centers for land based Nuclear Missiles and Nuclear Capable aircraft and Cruise Missiles why is the us spending all this money. This is the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in california. Dr brad roberts is director of the Laboratory Center for Global Security Research Roberts was also a Deputy Assistant secretary of defense in the obama administration. He explains why the pentagon wants to upgrade its weapons so the alternative to modernization is unilateral disarmament. We have postponed. Any decision because there are costly and politically very divisive weve postponed any decision about the modernization of our Nuclear Forces for decades the newest u. S. Nuclear weapon in the arsenal one in 1991 there is no weapon that was designed intended to have a shelf life of more than 20 or 25 years. The u. S. Is not only developing new kinds of Nuclear Weapons its also devising new strategies in which those weapons might be used. To some that is a frightening proposition. So is war again thinkable it was. Not thinkable in the 1960