Disturbing News: US May Change Its Nuclear Strategy
Published in Gazeta
(Ukraine) on 2 November 2021
by Ihor Lutsenko (link to original)
Nuclear proliferation worldwide is almost inevitable in the long term. Ukraine should take this into account.
Disturbing news from the U.S.: The left-wing “peace doves” from the Democratic Party are thinking of revising their strategy for the use of nuclear weapons and dismissing the possibility of being first to use them, or at least narrowing the list of cases for use to exceptional cases, such as the attack on the country’s territory.
“This would be a huge gift to China and Russia,” commented a European official for the FT.
U.S. allies — in fact, everyone who will have to fight when the United States steps back from its former role as the world’s guarantor — advised the U.S. against doing so.
Great Britain, France and Germany in Europe, along with Japan and Australia in the Pacific, are said to be trying to influence Joe Biden’s decision.
The lobbyists’ argument against reconsidering the use of nuclear weapons is a parade of “nuclear sovereignties” resulting from this decision. This means that at least Japan and South Korea will be forced to develop their own nuclear weapons.
Earlier this year, the U.S. sent out a questionnaire to its allies in order to know their attitudes toward Washington’s plans; they provided extremely critical responses.
That seemed to be enough, but the way the U.S. behaved when it withdrew troops from Afghanistan — the U.S. absolutely didn’t reckon with its allies there — raised alarm among them again.
This is not the first time the U.S. has pondered a change in its strategy for the use of nuclear weapons. Barack Obama also wanted to, but refused after opposition from allies and the U.S. Army.
Republicans, of course, also criticize these plans.
On a personal note, I might add that leftism in the U.S. and throughout the world is much more potent now, and the U.S. is much more divided internally than it was under Obama. Therefore, it is more likely that nuclear weapons will become a mere U.S. attribute rather than a major foreign policy tool.
In this regard, nuclear proliferation worldwide is almost inevitable in the long-term perspective, and Ukraine should take this into account.
Disturbing news from the U.S.: The left-wing “peace doves” from the Democratic Party are thinking of revising their strategy for the use of nuclear weapons and dismissing the possibility of being first to use them, or at least narrowing the list of cases for use to exceptional cases, such as the attack on the country’s territory.
“This would be a huge gift to China and Russia,” commented a European official for the FT.
U.S. allies — in fact, everyone who will have to fight when the United States steps back from its former role as the world’s guarantor — advised the U.S. against doing so.
Great Britain, France and Germany in Europe, along with Japan and Australia in the Pacific, are said to be trying to influence Joe Biden’s decision.
The lobbyists’ argument against reconsidering the use of nuclear weapons is a parade of “nuclear sovereignties” resulting from this decision. This means that at least Japan and South Korea will be forced to develop their own nuclear weapons.
Earlier this year, the U.S. sent out a questionnaire to its allies in order to know their attitudes toward Washington’s plans; they provided extremely critical responses.
That seemed to be enough, but the way the U.S. behaved when it withdrew troops from Afghanistan — the U.S. absolutely didn’t reckon with its allies there — raised alarm among them again.
This is not the first time the U.S. has pondered a change in its strategy for the use of nuclear weapons. Barack Obama also wanted to, but refused after opposition from allies and the U.S. Army.
Republicans, of course, also criticize these plans.
On a personal note, I might add that leftism in the U.S. and throughout the world is much more potent now, and the U.S. is much more divided internally than it was under Obama. Therefore, it is more likely that nuclear weapons will become a mere U.S. attribute rather than a major foreign policy tool.
In this regard, nuclear proliferation worldwide is almost inevitable in the long-term perspective, and Ukraine should take this into account.
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