Europe doesn’t want US “nuclear umbrella” to return.
Nuclear Weapons in Araxos
Maria Arvaniti Sotiropoulou / International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
(March 2022) — Ever since the US decided to downgrade the base in Incirlik and after the new military agreements between the US and Greece, we have been increasingly concerned about the risk of installing nuclear weapons in our country.
We remind you that during the Cold War there were nuclear weapons in both Nea Makri and Araxos, although all the Greek governments denied it. Only in 1999, on the occasion of the NATO attack on Yugoslavia, the then Minister of National Defense, responding to our document, admitted the “hosting” of the last 10 in Araxos. The last nuclear weapons were withdrawn in 2001 following the implementation of the nuclear reduction due to the NPT Agreements and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
As the Municipality of Verikios now reveals in the relevant article on ieidiseis.gr: “NATO’s nuclear plan has been activated, which provides for installation in the underground warehouses of Araxos.” Specifically states that NATO has been on high nuclear alert since the first day of the war in Ukraine. This practically means that NATO’s nuclear plan in Europe has been fully activated, which, among other things, envisages the installation of American nuclear bombs in the underground depots of Araxos!
As the Municipality of Verikios now reveals in the relevant article on ieidiseis.gr: “NATO’s nuclear plan has been activated, which provides for installation in the underground warehouses of Araxos.” Specifically states that NATO has been on high nuclear alert since the first day of the war in Ukraine. This practically means that NATO’s nuclear plan in Europe has been fully activated, which, among other things, envisages the installation of American nuclear bombs in the underground depots of Araxos!
In the post-Soviet period, 150 American nuclear bombs remained in Europe in European countries in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Turkey. Specifically, there are 52 nuclear bombs at the Incirlik base and 20 at the Buchel air base in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
NATO is responsible for the strategic planning of the nuclear shield in Europe. The United States regularly informs its allies of the whereabouts of its nuclear program. Germany has a practical role to play in NATO nuclear planning.
US plans to build new missile bases on Greek islands.
On March 26, 2010, the German parliament called on the then government with a large majority to withdraw US nuclear weapons. But none of the four governments that followed dared to take this step. And especially since Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014, the removal of US nuclear bombs has been completely abandoned.
During the Cold War, US nuclear weapons in Europe exceeded 1,016 nuclear bombs. About 480-580 were ready for use, ie more than 80% of the active B61 nuclear bombs of the American nuclear arsenal (!). The 300 were designed to be fitted to F-15E and F-16C / D aircraft. In addition to Germany and Turkey, Italy also has infrastructure for nuclear bombs (bases in Aviano and Jedi Torre)…
Regarding Greece, the report of the Defense Council of Natural Resources states that in 2001 Greece left the “nuclear club, as Canada did in 1978”.
However, the same report notes in 2001 that, by a bilateral agreement between Greece and the United States, six “Weapons Storage Vault” (WSV) were built at the Araxos base instead of the 12 previously agreed. The six (Nuclear) Weapons Storage Domes in Araxos “have a capacity for 24 nuclear bombs”.
The “Nuclear Weapons Storage” are empty of nuclear bombs but ready to receive them at any time. In 2015, the issue of nuclear weapons in Europe, and especially in Araxos, brought the KKE back to the forefront of the political scene, denouncing the then government for allowing the Americans to modernize nuclear warhead storage facilities.
On October 20, 2017, “Rizospastis” reveals that on September 26 and 28, 2017, a meeting was held at NATO headquarters in Brussels, with the aim of reviewing the work for the “modernization” of the Araxos base.
Relevant information from this meeting was sent to the Ministry of Defense, with a confidential document, the content of which was published by the information website on defense issues militaire.gr. The document states that among the projects underway at the base are facilities for the storage of “special weapons”, ie “nuclear”.
Protests against nuclear weapons in Araxos.
The work program in Araxos had started in August 2016 with the change of the wiring of the unit. The then government denied the KKE’s allegations through Deputy Defense Minister Dimitris Vitsas. Today, five years later, almost all the modernization works in the nuclear depots of the Araxos Base have been completed.
As early as July 2021, when the “Complete Nuclear Non-Proliferation Agreement” entered into force at the UN, reports already appeared here in Greece. . . .
[W]ho propagated the need !!! to “host” the American nuclear weapons in the places we had before (Araxos and Souda). “The Araxos base, which hosted US nuclear weapons in the context of NATO burden sharing during the period 1978-2001, already has the necessary infrastructure for storing nuclear weapons.
“At the same time, the facilities in Souda, where the US has a strong presence, have the potential to host strategic bombers (type B2 Spirit), as well as nuclear submarines.” Why not in the Marathon? — then we added to our relevant post — to put the Acropolis as a possible target of a nuclear strike !!!!!
Unfortunately, developments in Ukraine seem to have accelerated these processes. We who fought to make Greece a nuclear-free country will once again be at the forefront of the Anti-Nuclear Movement.
At a time when the risk of a nuclear catastrophe is at an all-time high, we insist that the only safe path for humanity is complete nuclear disarmament as described in the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which entered into force at the UN in January 2021.
Posted in accordance with Title 17, Section 107, US Code, for noncommercial, educational purposes.
