Disarmament by Default

The Obama Administration is laying the groundwork for de-clawing America's nuclear deterrence. Not only are administration officials looking at reducing the number of nuclear weapons with Russia, but they're not interested in modernizing the warheads that remain. They're also not taking into account China's weapons development, not to mention rogue states like Iran and North Korea.

Here's a section of a New York Times Op-Ed:



Obama Administration Urged To Shun "Cold War Thinking" On Nuclear Weapons.



In an op-ed in the New York Times (2/19, A27, 1.12M) Philip Taubman, a consulting professor at Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation, writes, "THE Obama administration seems ready to resuscitate relations with Russia, including by renewing nuclear-arms-reduction talks. Even before the inaugural parade wound down, the White House Web site offered up a list of ambitious nuclear policy goals, with everything from making bomb-making materials more secure to the eventual abolition of nuclear weapons. That's welcome news, but for such goals to be realized, the White House will need to be prepared to reimagine and reshape the nuclear era and, against strong opposition, break free from cold war thinking and better address the threats America faces today." Taubman continues, "George W. Bush actually started down this road. He reached an agreement with the Kremlin in 2002 to cut the number of operational strategic warheads on each side to between 1,700 and 2,200 by the year 2012, a two-thirds reduction." Instead of settling "for the next level - 1,000 active weapons seems to be the likely goal - the White House should reconsider the entire superstructure of nuclear-weapons strategy. ... An achievable immediate goal should be to cut the United States' and Russia's nuclear stockpiles down to the bare minimum of operational warheads needed to backstop conventional forces." Taubman adds, "The president's determination will be measured by how effectively he makes the case for Senate ratification of the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty." He concludes, "It's heartening to see President Obama and his national-security team promising to elevate nuclear-weapons policy and free it from the shibboleths of cold war nuclear theology. Now they must put their words into action.

One of my on-line friends put it best: We're the only nuclear power not building nuclear weapons.

Comrade Karla says: Shouldn't be a problem if they let our stuff degrade to the point of non-utility anyway.