Non-violent action training against nuclear weapons

On January 31st a group of anti-nuclear activists entered the air force base of Kleine Brogel in Belgium. They were astonished that for more than an hour they could walk undisturbed on the landing strip, through an open gate and up to the aircraft hangars where the nuclear weapons are stored. Only after one and a half hours all of the activists were detained on the base and their cameras and mobile phones confiscated.

The activists are trainers in non-violent action techniques. They offer trainings to other Bomspotters. This action was a training ground for them in non-violent action and civil disobedience. After having practised their climbing techniques at the fence they walked undisturbed to the bunkers that contain nuclear weapons. Only after one and a half hour the peace inspectors were halted by some armed guards. They tried to convince the soldiers present of a more peaceful perspective on conflict resolution.

Harsh reaction of the militaries

The activists were arrested by the soldiers, and experienced first-hand the techniques used by the military. One of the activists testified after her release: “We were blindfolded the whole time, first we had to sit on our knees in the snow with our hands on our necks. Then we had to stand up with our legs spread and hands above our heads, still blindfolded. Although we had been able to walk around the base for some time, observing and taking photographs, we couldn’t even look at the walls in the hallway due to our blindfold.” The fact that the activists possessed cameras and video cameras, obviously made the guards nervous. Despite interrogations and a thorough body search, the peace inspectors managed to smuggle the images out of the base.

The result of their inspection can be seen on this videoclip:

Bomspotters not scared off

This action is one of many being planned in 2010, as this is a crucial year for disarmament.

In 2010 there are three important moments which could be decisive for the future of nuclear weapons. The United States and NATO review their nuclear strategy, and from May 3rd the NPT Review Conference takes place. Agreements will be made on the further implementation of the Non-Proliferation treaty. This treaty has to halt the spread of nuclear weapons, in return for which the nuclear weapons states have promised to disarm.

Even though the political momentum for a unanimous call for nuclear disarmament has never been so big, there is still little sign of a Belgian engagement to support disarmament initiatives.

For this reason Vredesactie (Peace Action) calls for continual disturbance of the functioning of the nuclear weapons base. Four groups of Bomspotters (including Saint Nicolas) have already entered the base, and until May 2010 Bomspotters will head towards Kleine Brogel on their own to trespass the base non-violently, to disturb and to show the gaps in the inadequate security. On April 3rd a mass action of civil disobedience will take place at Kleine Brogel, but also at all other NATO nuclear weapons bases in Europe.

Discussion on security nuclear weapon base

Our action provoked discussion on the security of the nuclear weapon base, even in the media of the US military like Stars & Stripes (http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=67830). In our view this discussion does not touch the real questions. The nuclear weapons are itself a source of insecurity. The way to solve this is not more guards or fences, but the removal and dismantlement of the nuclear weapons.

Nuclear weapons can not be used without violating international humanitarian law and are as such the ultimate weapons of terror. The use of the 200 nuclear weapons in Europe, which are only a small part of the total US arsenal, would be enough to provoke a climate change of a much larger scale than what is now experienced as problematic. Nuclear weapons are not only a problem when terrorists would steal them, but already when states deploy them. The history of near-launches during and after the Cold War proves that nuclear deterrence is a form of Russian roulette. Security can not be brought by the threat of mutual suicide but has to be build on creating mutual trust and interests.

Action clips on www.youtube.com/vredesactie

PRESS COVERAGE

ENGLISH:

The most cited and profound article of the Federation of American Scientists:
http://www.fas.org/blog/ssp/2010/02/kleinebrogel.php
(discussions on their facebook-page: http://zh-cn.facebook.com/posted.php?id=86435802518&share_id=289535067866&comments=1 )

“The most direct route to securing US nuclear weapons in Europe is to immediately — like yesterday — consolidate all remaining forward deployed nuclear weapons to just one or two US airbases in Europe. “
http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/2614/activists-breach-security-at-kleine-brogel (very extensive analisis!)

http://www.nukesofhazardblog.com/tag/extended%20deterrence

In the mean time the Belgian Ministery of Defense replies to the famous magazine ‘Stars & Stripes’ from the American Army.

“A similar stunt occurred last November, according to Ingrid Baeck, a chief spokeswoman for the Belgian Ministry of Defense, who sought to minimize the danger.
“I can assure you these people never, ever got anywhere near a sensitive area,” Baeck said in a telephone interview Friday. “They are talking nonsense.”
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=67830
(it is also a top story in their magazine: http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/digital_editions/Page2_d13c41b7-49bd-4278-8944-69c60117122d_295af5b8-5341-4b64-80a9-69fbfec52b75.aspx)

Expert Jeffrey Lewis replies:
“In some important ways, Baeck is exaggerating herself — for example, we can see that the guard’s weapon is not loaded — but the real problem is that she also revealed where the activists ought to have gone. Nice way to get some kid shot on April 3, when they come back.
Yes, there are two sets of 11 shelters at Kleine Brogel, only one of which has WS3 vaults (Here is a set of Google Earth placemarks). The activists assumed that the one they accessed was the nuclear one based on their previous analysis (and the serendipity of an open gate). “
A profound analisis follows explaining why he also thinks that the nuclear weapons are below the other group of eleven bunkers.
http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/2619/yes-its-the-other-area

http://www.democracyarsenal.org/2010/02/us-nuclear-weapon-storage-site-perpetratedby-peace-activists.html

“Kristensen said the bunkers are strengthened to resist an attack from above, but not from ground level. If intruders could get inside one of the weapons vaults, he said, they would have to detonate direct charges to scatter the plutonium inside the bombs.”
http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/belgian-activists-breach-security-around-us-nukes/19345641
http://www.alert5.com/2010/02/peace-activists-pentrate-belgian-afb.html

Many comments here, with reference to a similar security breach in Washington taking place November last year:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2445621/posts

Original: local action committee against the privatisation of the security of a nuclear weapons site in the US, makes use of the Belgian case to prove that with the coming privitisation they could become the next Ground Zero:
http://www.nope-nj.com/2010/02/aol-news-belgian-activists-breach.html

http://wagingnonviolence.org/2010/02/bombspotters-sneak-into-nato-nuclear-base-in-belgium/

http://www.ploughshares.org/news-analysis/news/video-security-breach-us-nuclear-weapons-site-belgium

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389×7649481
http://www.cacda.org.cn/english/news/Read.asp?ID=1655

http://www.alert5.com/2010/02/belgians-downplays-security-breach-at.html

http://www.wopular.com/base-breach-sparks-nuclear-worries

“Hoho, you funny people. Don’t touch the red button ok?”
http://jamblichus.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/nuclear-alert/

http://mma.msg.com/article/0fBA8J16WY5kK?q=Belgium

“When slightly goofy Belgians and the issue of U.S. nuclear security collide”
http://muckrack.com/mikenizza/statuses/8655092207

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/02/video-activists-sneak-into-nuke-base/

“Our European allies have always been of two minds with regard to basing nuclear weapons on their soil. Privately, they wish the arrangement to continue while publicly, they assure their restive left wings that they want the nukes out. We’ve been dealing with this kind of two-faced policy for almost half a century so I suppose we should be used to it.
But unless our allies are going to get much more serious about securing these weapons, perhaps it would be safer to do as Lewis and his colleagues have suggested and move all the nukes currently stored on sites where there is local security responsibility to a couple of US Air Force bases. The price for a security breach involving terrorists or organized criminal elements would be just too high.”
http://rightwingnuthouse.com/archives/2010/02/05/security-breach-at-us-nuclear-weapons-site-in-belgium/

http://nuclear-news.net/2010/02/05/activists-get-deep-inside-u-s-nuclear-weapons-site-in-europe/

http://csis.org/blog/nuclear-policy-news-%E2%80%93-february-4-2010

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3265660

http://www.ctbto.org/press-centre/ctbt-in-the-news/?no_cache=1&day=1265324400

http://www.ethiopianreview.com/news/21607

http://1click.indiatimes.com/article/0fBA8J16WY5kK?q=Belgium

http://sec.11alive.com/article/0ayPgR8aIO3aE/quotes?q

http://topics.philly.com/article/0907gfn0Nagl3

http://celebrifi.com/gossip/Video-Activists-Sneak-Into-Nuke-Base-3048102.html

http://content.usatoday.com/topics/article/Places,+Geography/Countries/Belgium/0fBA8J16WY5kK/1

http://www.israelforum.com/board/showthread.php?threadid=17036 (cp strategy page)

http://watchingamerica.com/News/45533/a-field-trip-to-a-u-s-atomic-bomb-warehouse/ (article translated to English from TAZ)

http://www.silobreaker.com/us-nuclear-weapons-site-in-europe-breached-5_2263209196755353600 (cp fas)

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/02/serious_security_breach_at_us.html (often cited)

http://topconservativeblogs.com/2010/02/07/serious-security-breach-at-us-nuclear-weapons-site-in-belgium/

http://mliberalguy.blogspot.com/2010/02/serious-security-breach-at-us-nuclear.html

http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=521293

http://www.sarahstormreport.com/index.php/view/latest/Serious-security-breach-at-US-nuclear-weapons-site-in-Belgium/603011

http://kosmosnet.com/Permalink.aspx?ID=9089

http://stembucks.com/forums/War-Artist.html

http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/azbvg/

http://warnewsupdates.blogspot.com/2010/02/us-nuclear-sites-are-not-secured.html

http://www.blog.under-w0rld.org/?p=2282

http://conservativecowgirl.typepad.com/blog/2010/02/american-thinker-blog-serious-security-breach-at-us-nuclear-weapons-site-in-belgium.html

http://www.news.bkhmer.com/?p=10881

http://www.eurotrib.com/comments/2010/1/29/112222/983/86?mode=alone;showrate=1#86

http://mtrtmk.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/are-us-nukes-safe-breach-in-europe/

Military-strategy sites:
“The weapons are still stored there for treaty (the START agreements) reasons (as a bargaining chip in future disarmament negotiations.)”
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htmurph/articles/20100209.aspx

“This ain’t good.”
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/02/05/belgian-activists-breach-security-around-us-nukes-washington-post/

http://forums.officer.com/showthread.php?t=140068
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?173781-Belgian-Activists-Breach-Security-Around-US-Nukes

http://www.backwoodshome.com/forum/vb/showthread.php?p=197213

http://blog.daum.net/ksleemarine/16710837

http://sonicbomb.com

FRENCH:

Reportage RTBF 5 février:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb0l02oAz9Q
(removed)

http://www.rtlinfo.be/info/belgique/societe/303894/des–bomspotteurs–sur-la-base-militaire-aerienne-de-kleine-brogel

http://www.dhnet.be/infos/faits-divers/article/299165/l-incursion-pacifiste-de-kleine-brogel-sur-internet-video.html

http://www.lalibre.be/actu/belgique/article/560488/l-incursion-pacifiste-a-kleine-brogel-en-video.html

http://www.lecho.be/actualite/entreprises_technologie/Des_-bomspotteurs-_ont_penetre_sur_Kleine_Brogel.8290892-587.art?p=mobile

http://fr.newspeg.com/Lincursion-pacifiste-%C3%A0-Kleine-Brogel-en-vid%C3%A9o-57247365.html