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Trump’s Nuclear Posture Review
By Stephen Lendman
Global Research, February 04, 2018

Url of this article:
https://www.globalresearch.ca/trumps-nuclear-posture-review/5628237

VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: 

stephenlendman.org 

(Home – Stephen Lendman). 

Contact at [email protected].

America’s only threats are invented ones, no others.

Yet the nation’s so-called defense spending far exceeds what Russia, China, Iran and other independent countries spend combined.

Its nuclear arsenal and delivery systems can destroy planet earth multiple times over. The Trump administration’s Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) suggests preparation for nuclear war.

It falsely claims the nation must address “an unprecedented range and mix of threats” posed by Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and other countries.

No nations threatened US security since WW II ended, none now. Claims otherwise unjustifiably justify recklessly high military spending, including Trump’s plan to spend around $1.5 trillion over the next 30 years to upgrade America’s nuclear arsenal – needing no upgrading, certainly not what’s proposed.

Claiming “(t)he United States remains committed to its efforts in support of the ultimate global elimination of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons” is belied by its aggressive agenda, notably its permanent war policy.

Washington prioritizes militarism and belligerence, world peace and stability anathema notions it rejects.

Claiming “global threat conditions have worsened markedly since” the Obama administration’s 2010 NPR, “including increasingly explicit nuclear threats from potential adversaries,” is a bald-faced lie.

So is saying Washington is committed to reducing its nuclear arsenal while “Russia and China have moved in the opposite direction” – calling their behavior “increasingly aggressive.”

Claiming Iran has “the technological capability and much of the capacity necessary to develop a nuclear weapon within one year” ignores the Islamic Republic’s abhorrence of these weapons.

North Korea’s nuclear weapons program is solely for defense, genuinely fearing US aggression, hoping its capability can deter the possibility.

Claiming America faces “an unprecedented range and mix of threats, including major conventional, chemical, biological, nuclear, space, and cyber threats, and violent non- state actors” is utter rubbish.

America’s rage for endless wars of aggression, along with its rogue allies, poses the only serious threat to world peace and stability.

Image result for Anatoly Antonov

Commenting on Trump’s NPR, Russia’s US ambassador Anatoly Antonov (image on the right) said

“(t)he problem is that the Americans are again using the Russian scare to justify the rise in military spending and the nuclear buildup,” adding:

“We realize this comes from their desire to inject more money into the military industry sector. We know the price tag is enormous, (amounting to) trillions of dollars.”

“We were able to get acquainted only with the publicly released part of the document, with the remarks made by Secretary Mattis, but even these remarks raise questions.”

“I think that the remarks, at least those I have seen, do not really encourage practical work.”

“(A)s a Russian diplomat, I want to say that we should not be talked to from the position of strength. We should not be spoken down to. And we should not be told what and how we should do something.”

Russia observes its obligations under international agreements, including the INF Treaty and Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties (START and new START), Antonov stressed.

America agrees to one thing, then does another, flagrantly violating its international law obligations.

Washington’s claim about Russia developing new intercontinental range nuclear weapons systems, including a hypersonic glide aircraft and a new nuclear-armed undersea torpedo as part of a strategic weapons buildup, is used to justify US development of weapons to counter a nonexistent threat.

In the NPR’s preface, Defense Secretary Mattis explained Washington intends to modernize its nuclear submarines, strategic bombers, nuclear air-launched cruise missiles, ICBMs, as well as its command and control capabilities.

Claiming Moscow’s strategy lowers the threshold for first-strike nuclear weapons use turns truth on its head.

Commenting on the Trump administration’s NPR, Russia’s upper house Defense and Security Committee chairman Viktor Bondarev said it “removes any responsibility from the US leadership for any actions, because it allows for a loose interpretation of events on the international arena and of the situation in the internal affairs of sovereign countries.”

US and Sino/Russian geopolitical agendas are world’s apart. Washington wages endless wars of aggression, seeking unchallenged global dominance, risking catastrophic nuclear war.

Russia and China support world peace and stability, along with mutual cooperation among all nations.

Humanity’s greatest threat lies in Washington, not Moscow or Beijing.

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Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the CRG, Correspondent of Global Research based in Chicago.

VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: stephenlendman.org (Home – Stephen Lendman). Contact at [email protected].

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

Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article.