Prague

The signing of the nuclear warhead reduction treaty by the two Presidents of Russia and the U.S. is a very welcome step. There remains an issue about missile defence and I strongly support the developing NATO view that any such shield should have Russia as a participating partner who is also protected by it. There is no reason whatever to look at Russia as any sort of potential enemy in the modern world. The lust for poor relations evidenced by the zealots of the neo con era is simply infantile. Russia should be a full member of NATO and we should be working toward that.

On the issue of a missile shields, I think this is the wrong move anyway. The threat comes not from rogue countries with a handful of missiles launching suicidal attacks, ensuring their own annihilation within hours from a massive counter-strike. It comes from some grouping of terrorists acquiring a primitive nuclear bomb, probably an atom bomb of suitcase size.There would be no delivery system. Its various parts would be smuggled into the target country and then assembled. Missile defence shields against this threat are entirely useless. Secret intelligence, comprehensive listening and pin point surveillance are the weapons for this, supported when needed by drones.

Best of all is to sort out the Middle East. The legacy of Israel’s obduracy is the growth of terrorism and mutiplying threats. We need to lean on her politicians, all of them, very hard indeed. They need to know the world is going down another path. They must fall in line.