It’s been an open secret for years that there are still tactical nuclear weapons stationed in the Netherlands, probably at Volkel Air Base. Politically embarassing for both the Nehterlands and the US, their existence has never been confirmed or denied, though it is public knowledge that the Dutch airforce still has a nuclear strike task within NATO. One of those things everybody in the business knows, but the great unwashed can’t be allowed to know for sure. But thanks to Wikileaks, now we do. A cable from the American embassy in Berlin contained the following passage confirming the existence of tactical nuclear weapons in not just Holland, but also in Germany, Belgium and Turkey:
In response to Gordon’s question about how the government planned to take forward the commitment in the coalition agreement to seek the removal of all remaining nuclear weapons from Germany, Heusgen distanced the Chancellery from the proposal, claiming that this had been forced upon them by FM Westerwelle. Heusgen said that from his perspective, it made no sense to unilaterally withdraw “the 20” tactical nuclear weapons still in Germany while Russia maintains “thousands” of them. It would only be worth it if both sides drew down. Gordon noted that it was important to think through all the potential consequences of the German proposal before going forward. For example, a withdrawal of nuclear weapons from Germany and perhaps from Belgium and the Netherlands could make it very difficult politically for Turkey to maintain its own stockpile, even though it was still convinced of the need to do so.
On the one hand, this is not actually news, as everybody concerned knew this already. On the other hand, it’s now official out in the public domain and might therefore be embarassing for the governments involved. On the gripping hand, this also enables them to finally question their continued deployal openly. Why keep nuclear weapons meant to stop the Russian Tank Guard Armies crossing the Rhine when those armies have long gone and the Russians are almost incapable of keeping their recruits alive, let alone organise a new Cold War?