The publication by internet whistleblower Wikileaks of messages between the US State Department and its diplomatic missions abroad has indirectly confirmed the presence of US nuclear arms in the Netherlands.
A message sent by the US embassy in Germany to the State Department in Washington mentions US nuclear weapons in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Turkey. The message is about a three-way conversation between the US Ambassador to Germany Philip Murphy, the US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Gordon and the German national security advisor Christoph Heusgen.
In the message, Mr Heusgen reports that Germany is opposed to removing the 20 nuclear weapons deployed in Germany if Russia will still have thousands left. Assistant Secretary Gordon notes that it’s important to look into all potential consequences of the German proposal first.
“For instance, withdrawing all nuclear weapons from Germany and possibly Belgium and the Netherlands, could make it very difficult politically for Turkey to maintain its own stockpile, even when convinced of the need to do so.”
The presence of US nuclear weapons at the Volkel air base has never been officially confirmed, but has been suspected for years. Twelve years ago, former foreign minister Jozias van Aartsen implicitly acknowledged their existence during a debate in the Dutch senate.
© Radio Netherlands Worldwide
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....and this is the interest? Almost off the first page of RNW news and not one comment. My god, you have just found out your government gave permission to house Nuclear Weapons in your small country. Did your government ever have a country discussion on the topic, no they sneaked around you and said you have no right to know. Who in the hell do these people think they are.