A new report, ‘Squandered: 2021 Global Nuclear Weapons Spending,’ by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) shows that in 2021, the year before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, nine nuclear-armed states spent $82.4 billion on their nuclear weapons, a further increase on 2020 spending. The report shows that it is not just governments …
While events this year were overshadowed by the horrifying events in Ukraine, the movement came together to highlight the continued failure of military solutions to tackle the existential problems we face. Street demonstrations, Vigils & Stalls The first event of GDAMS in the UK was a demonstration on the evening of April 11th at Menwith …
Today’s launch of the annual Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) figures on military spending makes chilling reading. SIPRI estimates global military expenditure last year was at least $2,113 billion (US), the first time it has exceeded $2 trillion (US): an average of more than $5.78 billion (US) every day. This represents a 6.1% nominal …
“Instead of peace through strength we caused war through weakness… other democratic powers, especially in Europe, must commit to matching US defence spending as a proportion of GDP.” Jeremy Hunt MP, writing in The Telegraph 11/03/22 As the world watches in horror the Russian invasion of Ukraine, an extremely dangerous narrative is emerging. One that …
The Military Balance 2022, published today by The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) ranks the UK as the country with the third highest military spending in 2021, after the US and China. The IISS ranked the UK as the fourth largest spender in 2020 (behind India) and fifth for 2019 (after Russia). The changes …
On Monday the UK Ministry of Defence released its first ‘Defence Space Strategy‘ ominously sub-titled ‘Operationalising the Space Domain’. The report contained new spending commitments of an additional £1.4bn over 10 years to “to protect UK interests in space”, though it did not define what these interest might be. While we might wonder why a …
More than 50 Nobel Laureates have launched the Peace Dividend campaign calling for a reduction in international military spending of 2% per year over the next 5 years. Half of this money would be ring-fenced for pandemic control, climate change mitigation and the alleviation of extreme poverty. While many would wish to see a more …
19 October 2021 UPDATE: HEAT & Buildings Strategy released Last night the UK Government annouced its Heat & Buildings Strategy . A disappointing document which commits only one-third of the new funding requested in the Great Homes Upgrade (below) and widely criticised as as a missed opportunity. Initial reactions “It’s not going to close the …
1. Militarism diverts crucial resources from the climate emergency After the failure of the G7 to reach meaningful agreement under UK leadership, there is serious concern for the vital COP26 negotiations. Government spending to reduce UK carbon emissions is dwarfed by new spending on weapons of war. 2. The military Industrial complex is fuelling climate …
Today marks the final withdrawal of coalition forces from Afghanistan after almost 20 years. What did the conflict cost us and what lessons does it provide for ‘Global Britain’? Human suffering It would be callous to discuss resource and opportunity costs before first reflecting on the monumental human cost of the conflict, in particular that …
