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Obama proposes the reduction of nuclear wapons. The ballistic missile defense shield NATO is implementing may make it necessary for Russia to keep a higher level of nuclear deterrence.
June 19, 2013 · 0 Comments
From behind a bullet-proof glass, U.S. President Barack Obama speaks in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany June 19, 2013 (Reuters / Kevin Lamarque)
Obama proposes new nuclear cuts. Moscow wants other countries to join, and the sincerity of U.S. proposal is in question any way, which may suggest to cut nuclear weapons to receive a strategic advantage due to availability of high precision weaponry, drones, and other technologies not available to Russia yet.
And there is the question of the ballistic missile defense shield NATO is implementing as well, which together with other assets may make it necessary for Russia to keep a higher level of nuclear deterrence.
Speaking in Berlin on Wednesday President Barack Obama said the United States could reduce its nuclear weapons by a third and still ensure the security of itself and its allies.
He said he would now work with Russia to achieve these “bold restrictions” both in strategic nuclear arms and in tactical nuclear weapons in Europe.
Shortly before the announcement was made, a top aide to the Russian President said that Russia was ready to discuss the issue with the United States and with other nuclear nations.
Yury Ushakov (RIA Novosti / Aleksey Nikolskyi)“Barack Obama has informed our president in general that the Americans intend to suggest some steps to further reduce our nuclear arsenals, after these steps are discussed in the US administration. We heard this initial information and made remarks that other countries that possess nuclear weapons must be also included in the process of cutting the nuclear potential,” presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said at a press conference in Moscow.
“The situation now is not like in the 1960s and 1970s when only the United States and the Soviet Union held talks on reducing nuclear arms,” Ushakov said.
President Obama said in his Berlin speech that the US intended to work with its NATO allies on restrictions of tactical nuclear weapons in Europe.
The current list of nations that possess nuclear weapons includes the permanent members of the UN Security Council – Russia, United States, United Kingdom, France and China – and also India, Pakistan and recently North Korea. It is also believed that Israel is a nuclear power, but Israeli authorities never confirmed or denied this fact, sticking to a “strategic ambiguity” policy.
The active Russia-US nuclear weapons treaty, the New START, allows each side to possess a maximum of 1550 nuclear warheads and 700 deployed carriers, such as missiles and bombers.
By myfuamerica
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