{"id":153504,"date":"2020-02-10T12:00:42","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T12:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=153504"},"modified":"2020-02-17T10:50:48","modified_gmt":"2020-02-17T10:50:48","slug":"step-to-nuclear-doomsday-us-puts-low-yield-nukes-on-submarines-to-counter-made-up-russian-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2020\/02\/step-to-nuclear-doomsday-us-puts-low-yield-nukes-on-submarines-to-counter-made-up-russian-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"Step to Nuclear Doomsday: US Puts Low-Yield Nukes on Submarines to Counter Made-up Russian \u2018Strategy’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

FILE PHOTO: Trident II D5 missile test-launched from the US ballistic missile submarine.
\u00a9\u00a0 Reuters \/ US Navy \/ Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Ronald Gutridge \/ Handout<\/p><\/div>\n

5 Feb 2020 – <\/em>The US has deployed \u201clow-yield\u201d nuclear missiles on submarines, saying it\u2019s to discourage nuclear conflict with Russia. The move is based on a \u201cRussian strategy\u201d made up in Washington and will only bring mass annihilation closer.<\/p>\n

In a statement released earlier this week, US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy John Rood announced that<\/p>\n

\u201cthe US Navy has fielded the W76-2 low-yield submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM) warhead.\u201d<\/em> This new operational capability, Rood declared, \u201cdemonstrates to potential adversaries that there is no advantage to limited nuclear employment because the United States can credibly and decisively respond to any threat scenario.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The threat underpinning justification for this new US nuclear deterrent had its roots in testimony delivered to the House Armed Services Committee in June 2015 by US Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work, who declared that<\/p>\n

\u201cRussian military doctrine includes what some have called an \u2018escalate to deescalate strategy\u2019 \u2013 a strategy that purportedly seeks to deescalate a conventional conflict through coercive threats, including limited nuclear use.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, any review of actual Russian nuclear doctrine would have shown this to be a false premise. Provision 27 of the 2014 edition of \u2018Russian Military Doctrine\u2019 states that Russia<\/p>\n

\u201cshall reserve the right to use nuclear weapons in response to the use of nuclear and other types of weapons of mass destruction against it and\/or its allies, as well as in the event of aggression against the Russian Federation with the use of conventional weapons when the very existence of the state is in jeopardy. The decision to use nuclear weapons shall be taken by the President of the Russian Federation.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Russian Threat, Made in America<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite this, the concept of \u2018escalate to deescalate\u2019 as official Russian military doctrine had become ingrained in official US nuclear doctrine by 2018, with the publication of the US Defense Department\u2019s Nuclear Posture Review (NPR). Moscow, the 2018 NPR claimed,<\/p>\n

\u201cthreatens and exercises limited nuclear first use, suggesting a mistaken expectation that coercive nuclear threats or limited first use could paralyze the United States and NATO and thereby end a conflict on terms favorable to Russia. Some in the United States refer to this as Russia\u2019s \u2018escalate to deescalate\u2019 doctrine.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In response to this \u201cmade in America\u201d Russian threat, the 2018 NPR identified a requirement to modify a number of submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with low-yield nuclear warheads to strengthen US nuclear deterrence by providing US military commanders with a weapon that addresses<\/p>\n

\u201cthe conclusion that potential adversaries, like Russia, believe that employment of low-yield nuclear weapons will give them an advantage over the United States and its allies and partners.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As was the case with Robert Work\u2019s 2015 congressional testimony, the 2018 NPR did not provide the source for the existence of a Russian \u2018escalate to deescalate\u2019 doctrine, except to note that it originated in the US \u2013 not Russia. Nonetheless, based upon the 2018 NPR, President Donald Trump requested that the Defense Department acquire a new low-yield nuclear warhead for the Trident SLBM, setting in motion a process which culminated in the recent announcement that this new warhead had reached operational capacity.<\/p>\n

Voices of Reason Fall on Deaf Ears<\/strong><\/p>\n

In response to President Trump\u2019s request, a letter, signed by a laundry list of notable American statesmen, politicians and military officers, including former Secretary of State George Schultz, former Secretary of Defense William Perry and the former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General James Cartwright, was sent to the Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, stating that there was no need for this new \u201clow yield\u201d warhead. The letter furthermore noted that the premise of this warhead \u2014 the so called \u2018escalate to deescalate\u2019 Russian doctrine \u2014 was derived from a \u201cfalse narrative\u201d combining non-existent Russian intent with an equally fictitious \u201cdeterrence gap\u201d that could only be filled by the new nuclear weapon. This letter fell on deaf ears.<\/p>\n

Also: US says it won’t rule out nuclear first strike, because allies wouldn’t trust it otherwise <\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At a meeting of the Valdai Club in October 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the issue of Russian nuclear doctrine, prompted by questions raised by the publication of the 2018 NPR.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no provision for a pre-emptive strike in our nuclear weapons doctrine,\u201d<\/em> Putin declared. \u201cOur concept is based on a reciprocal counter strike. There is no need to explain what this is to those who understand, as for those who do not, I would like to say it again: this means that we are prepared and will use nuclear weapons only when we know for certain that some potential aggressor is attacking Russia, our territory\u2026[o]nly when we know for certain \u2014 and this takes a few seconds to understand \u2014 that Russia is being attacked we will deliver a counter strike. This would be a reciprocal counter strike. Why do I say \u2018counter\u2019? Because we will counter missiles flying towards us by sending a missile in the direction of an aggressor.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There\u2019s No Such Thing as \u2018Limited\u2019 Nuke Use<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a 1982 article published in Foreign Affairs entitled \u2018Nuclear Weapons and the Atlantic Alliance\u2019, four senior American statesmen (McGeorge Bundy, George F. Kennan, Robert S. McNamara and Gerard C. Smith) who had a hand in crafting US nuclear policy declared that<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one has ever succeeded in advancing any persuasive reason to believe that any use of nuclear weapons, even on the smallest scale, could reliably be expected to remain limited.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This fact holds as true today as it did when the article was written. Perhaps there is no better voice to emphasize this point than Russian President Vladimir Putin, again addressing the 2018 Valdai Conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, [the decision to launch nuclear weapons in defense of Russia] amounts to a global catastrophe, but I would like to repeat that we cannot be the initiators of such a catastrophe because we have no provision for a pre-emptive strike. Yes, it looks like we are sitting on our hands and waiting until someone uses nuclear weapons against us. Well, yes, this is what it is. But then any aggressor should know that retaliation is inevitable, and they will be annihilated.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

And we as the victims of an aggression, we as martyrs would go to paradise while they will simply perish because they won\u2019t even have time to repent their sins.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Trump administration would do well to ponder these words as they embrace the false deterrence of the new \u201clow yield\u201d nuclear-armed Trident SLBM. The fact of the matter is it deters nothing, and only invites global annihilation.<\/p>\n

_________________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>As a chief weapons inspector for the United Nations Special Commission in Iraq, Scott Ritter was labeled a hero by some, a maverick by others and a spy by the Iraqi government. In charge of searching out weapons of mass destruction within Iraq, Ritter was on the front lines of the ongoing battle against arms proliferation. He has had an extensive and distinguished career in government service and is an intelligence specialist who served 12 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, including assignments in the former Soviet Union and the Middle East. In 1991, Ritter joined the United Nations weapons inspections team, or UNSCOM. He participated in 34 inspection missions, 14 of them as chief inspector. Ritter resigned from UNSCOM in August 1998, citing U.S. interference in the inspections. He is the author of many books, including<\/em> Iraq Confidential: The Untold Story of the Intelligence Conspiracy to Undermine the UN and Overthrow Saddam Hussein; Target Iran: The Truth about the White House\u2019s Plans for Regime Change; and<\/em> Waging Peace: The Art of War for the Antiwar Movement. Contributor author<\/em>: Deal of the Century: How Iran Blocked the West\u2019s Road to War, <\/a>\u00a0Clarity Press. He is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College, with a B.A. in Soviet history.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 rt.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

5 Feb 2020 – The US has deployed \u201clow-yield\u201d nuclear missiles on submarines, saying it\u2019s to discourage nuclear conflict with Russia. The move is based on a \u201cRussian strategy\u201d made up in Washington and will only bring mass annihilation closer. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":153506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,65,57,180],"tags":[429,1301,450,70,875],"class_list":["post-153504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-weapons-of-mass-destruction","category-anglo-america","category-militarism","category-brics","tag-nuclear-ban-treaty","tag-nuclear-war","tag-nuclear-weapons","tag-usa","tag-wmd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}