Antinuclear

Nuclear submarines for Australia – a new form of target

option of enabling the permanent stationing of US nuclear submarine bases in Australia….The idea of using Australia as geo-politcal “chaff” in order to “waste” enemy bombs (by causing the enemy to target Australia in addition to the US) is not new.

Nuke Subs for Aust – call by Babbage to “take on China” « Paul Langley’s Nuclear History Blog, 5 Feb 2011, “……..Nuclear submarines seem extremely difficult to incorporate into a non-nuclear military industrial base. There is no compatible knowledge base, skill sets, support structures, or technical resources from which the reliable operation of such submarines could be sustained.
In effect then, what Babbage is asking for is a fully nuclear Australia. It is plain, as I have maintained in earlier posts, that the costs and skills of a nuclear military force cannot be sustained without the embedding nuclear technology within civil society. That means nuclear power. Nuclear power is ultimately dual use (military/civilian) and a taxpayer subsidy to the military economy. Sheridan reports that “Professor Babbage calls for Australia to host a range of American military bases……

Of course this position implies the cheaper option of enabling the permanent stationing of US nuclear submarine bases in Australia. As a transitional arrangement, this could be sustained for years while Australia skills itself and builds itself up as a fully fledged bomb totting, reactor running, uranium enrichment, waste disposal nation.

The idea of using Australia as geo-politcal “chaff” in order to “waste” enemy bombs (by causing the enemy to target Australia in addition to the US) is not new. And the concept of Australia as a US “Bolt Hole” in case of global conflict (when not if, actually) is as old as Pine Gap and North West Cape. Both nuclear targets of the old USSR, and probably China.

Would Australian voters tolerate such a dilution, or transfer, of Australian soveriegnty to the USA? Probably….

Nuke Subs for Aust – call by Babbage to “take on China” « Paul Langley’s Nuclear History Blog

February 7, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, weapons and war