President Obama continues to engage in an unrealistic and dangerous attempt to unilaterally draw down America’s already sharply diminished military strength, even as Russia and China continue to dramatically expand their military and conventional armed might.
His latest move was a proposal to enact a “No First Use Policy” of nuclear weapons. The attempt met with fierce resistance from his own cabinet, as well as American allies across the globe. According to the Wall Street Journal, the opposition even came from his own cabinet, including Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, as well as allies in Europe and Asia. “During the discussions, Mr. Kerry cited concerns raised by U.S. allies that rely on the American nuclear triad for their security, according to people familiar with the talks. The U.K., France, Japan and South Korea have expressed reservations about a ‘No First Use’ declaration, people familiar with their positions said. Germany has also raised concerns…”
A No First Use policy would provide Russia and China, as well as North Korea and eventually Iran, far greater latitude in their own nuclear and conventional military planning, placing the U.S. and its allies at a severe disadvantage.
According to Bill Gertz, writing in the Free Beacon, “Strategic Command chief Adm. Cecil Haney warned that the policy shift could undermine global stability in deterring growing nuclear threats posed by Russia, China, and North Korea…Asked about no-first-use, which was rejected in the Pentagon’s 2010 Nuclear Posture Review and subsequent 2013 implementing guidance for nuclear arms, Haney said the threat environment is not conducive to a new declaratory policy…Haney said the current security environment is dangerous and unpredictable and made more worrisome by advances in asymmetric warfare weapons, advanced air defenses, and ‘the increasingly provocative and destabilizing behavior by potential adversaries like Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran.’…Disarmament activists, including some officials in the White House, are seeking new anti-nuclear executive action before Obama leaves office, the Washington Post reported July 10. Options discussed among senior administration officials include adopting the no-first-use policy and circumventing Senate ratification of a nuclear test ban treaty by seeking a U.N. resolution on the treaty.”
National Review notes that the No First Use Policy has “been rejected by all previous Democratic and Republican administrations for very sound reasons…The most important of these reasons is that retaining a degree of U.S. nuclear ambiguity helps to deter war, while adopting an NFU policy would undercut that deterrence… Under the existing policy of ambiguity, potential aggressors such as Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran must contemplate the reality that if they attack us or our allies, they risk possible U.S. nuclear retaliation. There is no doubt whatsoever that this risk of possible U.S. nuclear retaliation has deterred war and the escalation of conflicts. In fact, the percentage of the world population lost to war has fallen dramatically since U.S. nuclear deterrence was established after World War II.”
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Despite the opposition from his own cabinet, observers believe Mr. Obama may enact the policy anyway, but wait until after the upcoming presidential election to do so. The delay would prevent the policy change from being used against Hillary Clinton, co-author of the foreign and military policies of the current Administration that transferred the balance of power lead from the U.S. and NATO to the Russian-Chinese axis.
President Obama is also said to be seeking to roadblock the vitally needed modernization of the American deterrent. The U.S. is Alone among the nuclear power in not updating its increasingly obsolescent atomic forces.
The “No First Use” move is particularly hazardous at a time when America’s conventional military has been decimated by budget cuts. The Navy has been reduced from 600 ships to approximately 274, the smallest it has been since before World War One. The Army is the smallest it has been since before World War 2, and the shrunken Air Force has never had a fleet of planes with an average age older than it currently has. The Marines are enduring severe shortages of equipment.
While continuing to support unilateral drawdowns of the U.S. nuclear deterrent, President Obama continues to refuse to provide full support for purely defensive measures such as the antiballistic missile program.