All states, not just North Korea, must renounce nuclear weapons

LIKE most people I am “bewitched, bothered and bewildered” at today’s (June 12) high drama in Singapore. However, though I seldom find myself agreeing with the egregious boor that presently occupies the White House, for once I certainly do. You have quoted him as demanding that North Korea “completely, verifiably, and irreversibly abandon all nuclear weapons”.

Excellent. However logic demands the response of “Tu quoque, Donald”. The proposition that some states may violate the rules of war and deploy weapons of mass destruction, but others may not, is only tenable on the overtly racist basis of national “exceptionalism”. Our deployment of Trident legitimises any other state doing the same – including North Korea, Iran, or whoever else is

Enemy of the Month. Either that, or we have a God-given right to threaten mass murder forever denied to all other lesser breeds.

The only way out of this absurd impasse is to recognise that no state may do so, and ban them internationally. This is exactly what 122 states agreed last June 7 at the UN. So, pace James Robb (Letters, June 11) and his denunciation of “the anti-nuclear faction of the SNP”, logic is on our side, not his. Most states realise that either we have a future free of nuclear weapons, or we have no future at all. As the Canberra Commission said: “The proposition that nuclear weapons can be retained in perpetuity and never used – accidentally or by decision – defies credibility. The only complete defence is the elimination of nuclear weapons and assurance that they will never be used”.

That is why it is not just the SNP that wants a written constitution banning nuclear weapons from our lands and waters, but all supporters of independence. Nuclear weapons have been condemned by all the churches, all the political parties except the Tories, the trades unions, leaders in the arts and literature.

Having nuclear weapons imposed on us against our will makes Scotland unique in the world, which is why there will be huge international support for our demonstration at Faslane on September 22.

Brian M Quail,

2 Hyndland Avenue, Glasgow.

LIKE him or loathe him, and for most I fear it is the latter, it appears Donald Trump has pulled off a coup in Singapore and made the world a safer place for all of us. The problems on the Korean peninsula seemed insurmountable.

If Mr Trump can achieve this, perhaps he can now turn to worldwide, multilateral, genuine nuclear disarmament. Not the kind of nonsensical madness where one major player, like the UK, unilaterally gives up their nuclear capability, destabilising the entire world balance of power, and hopes all will follow. I mean real and of course gradual, probably over many decades, fully guaranteed and verifiable, disarming of every nuclear weapon on the planet.

Alexander Mckay,

8/7 New Cut Rigg, Edinburgh.

THE meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un – “the meeting the world has waited for” has relegated the fall-out of the G7 summit to the rubbish bins – the G7 is now simply “last year”.

However, Europe and in UK in particular would do well to pay more attention to the events in Quebec than Singapore. The conduct and outcome of that summit in particular should not be forgotten (“UK will continue to work for deals despite ‘difficult’ G7, says PM”, The Herald, June 12). As six of the seven members sat down to discuss free trade, President Trump’s late appearance, early departure and his loutish and insulting behaviour towards the other world leaders should surely leave everyone in no doubt, not only that he has no manners, he has no scruples, he doesn’t need or want friends or allies, he cares only for the American self-interest.

He shows no respect for anyone. America’s new trade tariffs are now in place and the world has been well warned – retaliatory measures will not be tolerated; they would be a “big mistake” by any country which attempts them.

It looks strongly like a global trade war is looming and we in the UK in particular should be concerned. As our trade emissaries scour the world for post-brexit trade deals it will probably come as no surprise to them that they will be even harder to come by after last week’s G7. If we leave the EU and paddle our own trade canoe into unfriendly waters it is likely that the good ship America will be the first to welcome us complete with their own proposals for a joint trade agreement. I suspect we will not like what they have to say but we will be in no position to drive a bargain. We need them more than they need us and we might even discover that our “special relationship”’ with the United States wasn’t very special after all.

Maybe membership of the EU wasn’t such a bad thing. I hope it’s not too late to take a cold hard look at who our new “friends” might be, and how friendly, or otherwise they might be to deal with.

Ian Mclaren,

27 Buchanan Drive,

Lenzie. IT would take too long to demolish all the points Andrew Mckie raises in his column (“Defeat for EU Withdrawal Bill would be democratic sabotage), but one which seems to be pivotal to his argument must be challenged. This is the claim that the vote to leave the EU was the “single largest popular vote for anything”. Numerically, this might be true, though it might actually be exceeded by numbers voting in some TV shows. What he omits to note is that this vote only exceeded that to stay in the EU by a tiny margin. This margin also depended on the intervention of dubious millionaires such as Arron Banks, a campaign of lies and undeliverable promises and appeals to xenophobia. The real democratic sabotage is Government attempting to railroad through Brexit legislation with no account being taken of the views of that half of the population

(or the near two-thirds in Scotland) that voted to remain. Defeat for the EU Withdrawal Bill is sadly unlikely, but would be a major triumph of common sense over self and party interest by MPS.

Dr RM Morris,

Veslehaug, Polesburn,

Methlick, Ellon.

AS a Remainer and unacquainted with correspondent Paul Lewis (Letters, June 12) I am happy to accept his word that he is a fairminded, free-thinking, knowledgeable individual who believes that the EU is a centralising and economically protectionist cartel, and not a racist bigot, halfwitted and gullible, or a manipulated Russian stooge.

I believe that the great majority of those who voted to leave the EU did so in good faith and are balanced and sincere – but mistaken on this important issue. Both sides can argue their case, agree to differ, and leave abusive terms to the bampots on both sides of the debate.

R Russell Smith,

96 Milton Road, Kilbirnie.