Russia has right to 'preventative' nuclear strike: general
CIA report warned of nuclear-armed Spain in 1974
The CIA feared that Spain's military dictator Francisco Franco planned to develop nuclear weapons in the 1970s, according to a recently declassified report. But only in an unlikely set of circumstances, including the policies of a post-Franco government, would the country acquire nuclear weapons capability, the CIA report from 1974 concluded. The Spanish newspaper El Pais said Friday the report on the CIA's website, entitled "Prospects for Further Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons", was declassified on Monday under the US Freedom of Information Act. "Spain is one country that is deserving of some attention as a possible proliferator in the years ahead," the CIA said. "It has indigenous uranium reserves of moderate size, an extensive long-range nuclear power programme ... and a pilot chemical separation plant." It noted that Spain had refused to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), which 19 countries had signed by that time. But the CIA analysts said the country was linked to the United States by a bilateral military agreement which Madrid was "likely to view as offering better security than any independent Spanish nuclear capability." "Only an unlikely combination of circumstances, growing out of Spain's location with respect to Gibraltar, Portugal and North Africa -- coupled with loss of security ties to the US or NATO, and perhaps a post-Franco government unsure of itself -- seems in any way plausible as a reason for Spain to develop a nuclear capability..." The Spanish government of Socialist Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez signed the NPT in 1986, 11 years after Franco's death ended the 26-year dictatorship. |
by Staff Writers
Moscow (AFP) Jan 19, 2008
Russian army chief Yury Baluevsky on Saturday asserted that the country had the right to use nuclear weapons on a "preventative" basis, news agencies reported.
"We are not planning to attack anyone. But our partners should clearly understand... that the armed forces will be used if necessary to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation and its allies, including on a preventative basis, including with the use of nuclear weapons," Baluevsky was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency.
"Military force can and must be used to demonstrate the decisiveness of the top leadership of the country to defend its interests and as a last resort on a massive scale at a time when all other methods prove insufficient," Baluevsky was quoted as saying at a conference in Moscow.
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