Discussing his approach to nuclear security the day before formally releasing his new strategy, Mr. Obama described his policy as part of a broader effort to edge the world toward making nuclear weapons obsolete, and to create incentives for countries to give up any nuclear ambitions. To set an example, the new strategy renounces the development of any new nuclear weapons, overruling the initial position of his own defense secretary.
Mr. Obama’s strategy is a sharp shift from those of his predecessors and seeks to revamp the nation’s nuclear posture for a new age in which rogue states and terrorist organizations are greater threats than traditional powers like Russia and China.
It eliminates much of the ambiguity that has deliberately existed in American nuclear policy since the opening days of the cold war. For the first time, the United States is explicitly committing not to use nuclear weapons against nonnuclear states that are in compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, even if they attacked the United States with biological or chemical weapons or launched a crippling cyberattack.
This is a President who does not understand the times in which we live. There are many nations who will gladly turn a blind eye to their nationals planning a massively deadly attack against the United States if they know the nuclear option is off the table. Additionally, Pandora is out of her box. There is no making nuclear weapons obsolete. Small nations are not pursuing nuclear weapons out of fear of the United States...they are pursuing them for regional dominance and as a hedge against outside, particularly American, interference in their plans. This is not a time to sing Kumbaya and expect states to willingly give up their nuclear ambitions. Instead, it is a time to send the message that the nuclear ambitions of non-nuclear states is clearly unacceptable.
May God help us all.
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