Last summer, Obama said he “strives for a world without nuclear weapons.”

At the same time, he approved $1 trillion to upgrade America’s nuclear arsenal over the next 30 year – maybe several-fold this amount before completed, along the way perhaps preemptively using them in combat against one or more adversaries – madness if ordered.

Trump on Twitter said “(t)he United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.”

By phone with MSNBC, he added “let it be an arms race. We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all.”

If the quote is accurate, it’s disturbing, even though he stressed strengthening America’s military throughout his campaign. Why when no enemies exist except invented ones.

US nuclear proliferation assures a hugely dangerous arms race. In response to Washington’s plans, Putin said “(w)e need to strengthen the military potential of strategic nuclear forces, especially with missile complexes that can reliably penetrate any existing and prospective missile defense systems.”

We must carefully monitor any changes in the balance of power and in the political-military situation in the world, especially along Russian borders, and quickly adapt plans for neutralizing threats to our country.

At his annual year-end marathon press conference, he said “(t)he prerequisites for a new arms race were created after the US withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty (in 2002). This is obvious.”

The 1972 ABM Treaty expressly forbids development, testing and deployment of missile defenses. Abandoning it forced Russia and China to act defensively to protect their national security.

Putin explained:

“when one party unilaterally withdrew from the treaty and said it was going to create an anti-nuclear umbrella, the other party has to either create a similar umbrella – the necessity of which we are not sure about considering its questionable efficiency – or create effective ways to overcome this anti-ballistic missile system and improve its strike capabilities.”

Obama’s 2010 and 2015 National Security Strategy calls for first-strike use of nuclear weapons against any adversary, nuclear armed or not. America will lead through strength, he said.

His brave nuke world may kill us all. Either we eliminate these weapons of mass destruction or they’ll eliminate us.

US imperial policy threatening Russia and China forced both countries to prepare for global war, risking mass annihilation without efforts to step back from the brink.

“(I)t’s not us who have been speeding up the arms race,” Putin explained. Does Trump have sense enough to slow it down? If not, perhaps we’re all doomed.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected].

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.