Obama Admn. reviewing nuclear arsenal with eye to new cuts beyond START

[Soul Crusher]

National & World News
23, 6:55 AM EDT
US reviewing nuclear arsenal with eye to new cuts

By DESMOND BUTLER
Associated Press
 

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_US_NUCLEAR_WEAPONS?SITE=VANOV&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration has begun examining whether it can make cuts to its nuclear weapons stockpiles that go beyond those outlined in a recent treaty with Russia.

The classified review is not expected to be completed until late this year, but some Republicans already are worried that it will go too far. On Tuesday, 41 Republican senators warned Obama in a letter not to make major changes in nuclear policy without consulting Congress.

Arms control advocates say the United States is mired in Cold War-era thinking about nuclear deterrence and are pressing the administration to use the review to rethink U.S. nuclear requirements. They say the decisions will be a test of President Barack Obama's commitment nearly two years ago to put the world on a path toward eliminating nuclear weapons.

Obama ordered the nuclear review early last year with an aim of shrinking the nuclear arsenal, but the work, led by the Defense Department, began recently, according to a department spokeswoman, Lt. Col. April Cunningham.

The review will look at issues such as what targets the U.S. would have to hit with nuclear weapons in a worst-case scenario and what kind of weapons it would need to hit them. Rethinking the requirements could open the way to cuts.

In the letter to Obama, Republicans warned against any big reductions from those outlined in the New START treaty, ratified by the Senate and the Russian Duma in recent months. The treaty limits each side to 1,550 deployed warheads - a level military officials have said meets the need of the current directives.

Sharp reductions in nuclear forces "would have important and as yet unknown consequences for nuclear stability," the letter said.

The letter was circulated by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., a leading opponent of the New START treaty when it was considered in the Senate. It makes clear that significant changes in nuclear policy without consulting Congress could affect consideration of a new treaty with Russia. The 41 lawmakers who signed it include a number who supported New START and represent sufficient numbers to block any treaty.

There is no indication that the Obama administration is considering drastic cuts as a result of the review. But the study could shape talks it has proposed with Russia on weapons not covered by the New START treaty. The administration wants to focus on stored nuclear weapons and those intended for short-range delivery, known as tactical nuclear weapons. But negotiations with Russia also could lead to further reductions in deployed long-range nuclear weapons.

Administration officials say the review has just begun and no decisions have been made. In a broader look at nuclear weapons policy last year, called the nuclear posture review, the administration stressed the need for maintaining a strong U.S. deterrent.

"The United States will continue to ensure that, in the calculations of any potential opponent, the perceived gains of attacking the United States or its allies and partners would be far outweighed by the unacceptable costs of the response," the document said.

Disarmament advocates who follow administration thinking on nuclear issues say the document is unlikely to lead quickly to sharp cuts.

"For better or worse, it's not in the cards," says Daryl Kimball, head of the Arms Control Association, which advocates nuclear disarmament.

But advocates hope the review could open the way to reconsidering what would be needed to deter potential adversaries.

"We shouldn't have to dump 60 hydrogen bombs on Odessa to ensure U.S. nuclear security," says Joseph Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, which advocates the elimination of nuclear weapons. "This review will determine whether the president is serious about moving toward deep reductions and the elimination of nuclear weapons or if he is giving up on that vision."

[Soul Crusher]

Those morons in the GOP who went alog with this horrible admn have olythemselves to blame for feeling lied to now.   

If they don't see what a lying, disgusting, treasonous, piece of trash Obama is by now, shame on them.   

[Soul Crusher]

Disarmament The Obama Way
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Posted 06:20 PM ET
 

Defense: As Russia invests in new weapons and China increases military spending by double digits, the administration conducts a new review looking to cut our nuclear arsenal even beyond misguided treaty obligations.

The F-15 Eagle that lay smoldering in the Libyan desert was downed not by hostile fire but by "mechanical failure." It's a perfect metaphor for the current administration's downgrading of national defense from a constitutional imperative to an optional budget item.

The F-22 Raptor was designed to replace our aging F-15 fleet, which is older than the pilots who fly them and whose wings are almost literally falling off. Raptor production was cut off at 187, not nearly enough to meet global commitments that now include three Mideast wars, including one that President Obama escalated in Afghanistan and another he started in Libya while on tour in South America.

American exceptionalism once included a military that was second to none, not second-rate. And while we still possess some of what are called "unique capabilities," they are slowly being whittled away while those waiting to supplant us on the global stage arm like there's no tomorrow.

The latest administration move toward disarmament is a new strategic review to determine what further cuts can be made to our strategic arsenal beyond those cuts made in the New START treaty recently concluded with our good friends in Moscow.

The review was ordered by President Obama last year to look at issues such as what targets the U.S. would have to hit in a worst-case scenario and what types and quantities of weapons would be needed. Translation: How many more strategic weapons can we discard?

On Tuesday, 41 Republican senators warned against further major changes in nuclear policy or reductions in our strategic arsenal without consulting Congress. The letter, circulated by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., a leading opponent of the New START treaty when it was considered by the Senate, states that continued sharp reductions in our strategic forces "would have important and as yet unknown consequences for nuclear stability."

Meanwhile, the Russians appear hell-bent on modernizing their military, including their strategic forces. Moscow just announced it will spend $703 billion on a rearmament program to modernize its forces by 2020.

Working with this unprecedented budget, Russia will buy 36 strategic ballistic missiles, two strategic missile submarines and 20 strategic cruise missiles this year. The $703 billion will also be used for purchasing five spacecraft, 25 warplanes, 109 helicopters, 21 missile defense systems, three multirole nuclear-powered submarines and a surface warship.

That program, which includes work on a Russian stealth fighter, is quite ambitious. The Russian air force recently celebrated the maiden flight of the Sukhoi T-50, Moscow's version of the American F-22 Raptor stealth fighter.

We have shut down the F-22 production line, viewing it as an unaffordable and unnecessary extravagance. Notice that no Raptors are enforcing the no-fly zone, lest their usefulness and need be on public display.

The Chinese have recently begun flight tests of their own stealth fighter, the J-20. Along with its carrier-killing missile, the DF-21D, it could change the balance of power in the western Pacific, where the first Chinese aircraft carrier may set sail this year.

China used a top-secret SC-19 anti-satellite missile in a test last year against a target missile as part of a missile-defense system that remains shrouded in secrecy. The SC-19's first successful test destroyed a Chinese weather satellite in January 2007.

The New START treaty, at least according to Moscow, does not allow the improvement of our missile defense capability.

As we put our defense spending on the chopping block, the Chinese have announced that their military budget will rise 12.7% in 2011, resuming a long series of annual double-digit increases after a slight dip in 2010.

What may be called "Obamalateral disarmament" is clearly under way, a policy that leaves us exposed to tyranny's Final Four: China, Russia, North Korea and Iran.

[Benny B]

So how does it feel, champ? You're on top of the world!

[The True Adonis]

This is very good news.  We should have gotten rid of the excess over a decade ago.  Its nothing but a waste of money.

[Soul Crusher]

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House panel votes to limit Obama on nuke reduction
AP/Yahoo ^ | 5/11/11
Posted on May 11, 2011 9:41:25 PM EDT by markomalley

A House panel has voted to limit the president's authority to reduce nuclear weapons under a U.S.-Russia treaty overwhelmingly ratified by the Senate last December.

The House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday approved an amendment that says the administration may not spend money to retire weapons until the defense and energy secretaries submit to Congress a modernization plan for the remaining weapons. The vote was 35-26.

Republicans said they were putting the brakes on any effort by the administration to race toward cuts.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...

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