LONDON (AP) — The head of Britain’s armed forces has warned that the world stands at the cusp of a “third nuclear age,’’ defined by multiple simultaneous challenges and weakened safeguards that kept previous threats in check.
Admiral Tony Radakin, chief of the defense staff, said Britain needs to recognize the seriousness of the threats it faces, even if there is only a remote chance of Russia launching a direct nuclear attack on the U.K. or its NATO allies.
While the Cold War saw two superpowers held at bay by nuclear deterrence and the past three decades were characterized by international efforts to restrict the spread of nuclear weapons, the current era is “altogether more complex,” Radakin said Wednesday in a speech to the Royal United Services Institute.
“We are at the dawn of a third nuclear age…’’ he said. “It is defined by multiple and concurrent dilemmas, proliferating nuclear and disruptive technologies and the almost total absence of the security architectures that went before.”
Challenges faced by the West include Russia’s threat to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, China’s drive to build up its nuclear stockpiles, Iran’s failure to cooperate with international efforts to limit its nuclear program, and “erratic behavior” by North Korea, Radakin said. All of this comes against a backdrop of increasing cyber-attacks, sabotage and disinformation campaigns aimed at destabilizing Western countries.
He described the deployment of North Korean soldiers alongside Russian forces on Ukraine’s border as the year’s “most extraordinary development,’’ and warned that further deployments were possible.
The annual lecture by the chief of Britain’s defense staff is a tradition at RUSI, one of the country’s foremost think tanks on military and strategic issues.
Radakin used the lecture to make the case for continued reforms in the British military so the U.K. is prepared to respond to the changing international landscape. That includes maintaining Britain’s nuclear deterrent, which is “the one part of our inventory of which Russia is most aware and has more impact on Putin than anything else,” he said.
Britain keeps at least one submarine armed with nuclear missiles at sea at all times so that it can respond in the event of a nuclear attack.
The U.K. government is currently conducting a strategic defense review to determine how its armed forces should be staffed and equipped to confront the new challenges. The results are due to be published in the first half of next year.
FILE - Britain's Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral Tony Radakin attends a Ceremonial Welcome for the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and his wife Sheikha Jawaher, at Horse Guards Parade in London, on Dec. 3, 2024. (Henry Nicholls via AP, Pool File)
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis inaugurated his Holy Year at Rome’s main prison on Thursday, bringing a message of hope to inmates and involving them in the Catholic Church’s once every quarter-century celebration that is expected to bring about 32 million pilgrims to Rome.
Francis stood up from his wheelchair, knocked on the door to the chapel at Rebibbia prison and walked across the threshold, reenacting the gesture he performed at the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica two nights earlier on Christmas Eve.
The opening of the Holy Door at the basilica officially kicked of the Jubilee year, a church tradition dating to 1300 that nowadays occurs every 25 years and involves the faithful coming to Rome on pilgrimages.
"The first Holy Door I opened at Christmas in St. Peter's. I wanted the second one to be here, in a prison," Francis told the inmates before he entered. “I wanted each of us here, inside and out, to have the possibility of throwing open the door of our hearts and understanding that hope doesn't disappoint.”
Francis dedicated the 2025 Jubilee to hope and made clear that prisoners would be an important part of it: The final grand event of the Jubilee is a special Mass for inmates at St. Peter's on Dec. 14, 2025. Francis has long made prison ministry an important part of his priestly vocation and has made several visits to Rebibbia since becoming pope in 2013 while also including prison visits in many of his foreign trips.
His message is always one of hope, believing that people who are serving prison sentences need something to look forward to more than most. That is especially true in Italy, where prison overcrowding and inmate suicides are at record highs, according to the Antigone Association, which tracks prison conditions.
According to Antigone's 2024 report, 88 prisoners killed themselves in Italian lockups this year — more than any other year — and Italy's inmate population was 132% over the system's capacity.
In his homily, Francis suggested the prisoners think of hope as an anchor that is fixed on the ground and that they try to hold tight to the rope that is attached to it, even if it sometimes hurts their hands.
“Hold onto the rope of hope, hold onto the anchor," Francis said. “Never let it go.”
Francis’ outing to Rebibbia on a frigid morning was his final big event of the week after he celebrated Christmas Eve Mass on Tuesday evening at St. Peter’s Basilica and delivered his Christmas Day blessing from the loggia overlooking the square.
The 88-year-old pope, who often suffers from respiratory infections in winter, has a few days to rest before gearing up for New Year’s Eve vigil and Mass the following day.
Francis’ 2025 involves a dizzying calendar of Jubilee events that will sorely test his stamina, with special Jubilee Masses for all the main groups of pilgrims who are being celebrated during the year: Adolescents, migrants, teachers and law enforcement, among others.
So far, he has only one foreign trip under study: A May visit to Turkey to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, Christianity’s first ecumenical council.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
The motorcade escorting Pope Francis arrives at the Rebibbia Prison where the Pontiff symbolically opens a Holy Door with inmates in Rome, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Francis arrives at Rebibbia prison for the event of the opening of the Holy Door of the chapel at the prison in Rome, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
In this image released by Vatican Media, Pope Francis opens the holy door marking the start of the Catholic jubilar year 2025 before presiding over the Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at The Vatican, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Vatican Media, HO)
In this image released by Vatican Media, Pope Francis opens the holy door marking the start of the Catholic jubilar year 2025 before presiding over the Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at The Vatican, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Vatican Media, HO)
In this image released by Vatican Media, Pope Francis opens the holy door marking the start of the Catholic jubilar year 2025 before presiding over the Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at The Vatican, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Vatican Media, HO)
Pope Francis opens the Holy Door of St Peter's Basilica to mark the start of the Catholic Jubilee Year, at the Vatican, Dec. 24, 2024. (Alberto Pizzoli/Pool Photo via AP)
Pope Francis arrives at the Rebibbia Prison where he symbolically opens a Holy Door with inmates in Rome, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
