{"id":17593,"date":"2016-12-23T04:37:47","date_gmt":"2016-12-23T04:37:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=17593"},"modified":"2016-12-23T04:37:47","modified_gmt":"2016-12-23T04:37:47","slug":"trump-calls-for-stronger-nukes-until-world-comes-to-its-senses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/trump-calls-for-stronger-nukes-until-world-comes-to-its-senses.html","title":{"rendered":"Trump calls for stronger nukes until world comes to its senses"},"content":{"rendered":"<div align=\"justify\">\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Trump calls for stronger nukes until world comes to its senses<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\"><strong>Trump calls for stronger nukes until world comes to its senses:-<\/strong> President-elect Donald Trump Thursday decried the state of the nation\u2019s nuclear arsenal, saying in a tweet that it had to be strengthened \u201cgreatly\u201d during uncertain times.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">\u201cThe United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes,\u201d he tweeted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Trump made his remarks a day after receiving a national security briefing from a group of mostly senior military officers, including Air Force Lt. Gen. Jack Weinstein, deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/811977223326625792\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">December 22, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">A nuclear arms reduction expert reacted to Trump&#8217;s tweet with alarm. Joseph Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, said similar statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin could trigger a new and destabilizing nuclear arms race.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">The United States and Russia have 95% of the world&#8217;s nuclear weapons, but smaller nuclear powers, such as China, North Korea, India and Pakistan, may view their statements as a call to bolster their own arsenals, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">&#8220;If the two guys with the biggest arsenals are talking about expanding, they&#8217;re sending a message to the other guys that it&#8217;s time to start their engines,&#8221; Cirincione said. &#8220;And we\u2019re off to the races.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">An alternative, Cirincione suggested, would be for Trump and Putin to establish a relationship in which arms reduction is a centerpiece.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">&#8220;He could assure his place his place in the history books with the deal of a lifetime,&#8221; Cirincione said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Later Thursday afternoon, Jason Miller, Trump&#8217;s communications director, said Trump was referring to potential nuclear terrorism and other issues.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">&#8220;President-elect Trump was referring to the threat of nuclear proliferation and the critical need to prevent it \u2014 particularly to and among terrorist organizations and unstable and rogue regimes,&#8221; Miller said in a statement. &#8220;He has also emphasized the need to improve and modernize our deterrent capability as a vital way to pursue peace through strength.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">None of that was clear in Trump&#8217;s initial tweet, and the president-elect did not speak publicly or send another tweet with more information.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">What&#8217;s a triad?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">During the campaign for the Republican nomination and the general election, Trump struggled to show a firm grasp of U.S. nuclear strategy and capability.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">In a Republican debate, Trump failed to define the \u201cnuclear triad,\u201d the U.S. nuclear strategy of relying on three weapons platforms to launch weapons \u2014 bombers, land-based missiles and submarine-launched missiles. The decades-long strategy is meant to deter enemies from attacking because they will be unable to prevent a devastating response.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Trump has also suggested that U.S. allies such as Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia, all of whom rely on the U.S. nuclear deterrent, could acquire nuclear weapons for their own defense.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">The Pentagon, in its 2017, budget has several initiatives aimed at modernizing its nuclear arsenal. Among them is a $2.1 billion program to develop a new, radar-evading long-range bomber.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">In a 2015 report, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that Obama administration plans to modernize the nation&#8217;s nuclear forces would cost nearly $350 billion over a 10-year period.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Robert Jervis, professor of international affairs at Columbia University and an expert on nuclear weapons, downplayed the notion that Trump\u2019s tweet would set off a new arms race. More troubling, he said, is that there\u2019s no evidence that Trump has thought long or hard about the policies for maintain and using them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Does he want to spend more than the $350 billion the Obama administration has proposed to modernize them, Jervis asked? What happens if Putin rejects his offers for better relations? The problems are complex, and the stakes exceedingly high, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">\u201cUnless we\u2019re being fooled and he\u2019s done great thinking, these tweets are off the top of his head and are immediate responses,\u201d said Jervis, who acknowledged being a lifelong Democrat. \u201cIf you try to dig deep there isn\u2019t anything there. There\u2019s a reason states don\u2019t communicate in 140 characters without serious staff work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Gen David Goldfein, the Air Force chief of staff, has emphasized the importance of the service&#8217;s nuclear mission during a trip this week to air bases around the country. He spent a night in a missile alert facility in Nebraska and met with crew members and security personnel there.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">He has said the Air Force&#8217;s top priority is maintaining a safe, secure and effective nuclear enterprise.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">The world has seen a dramatic reduction in the number of nuclear weapons in the last 25 years, Pentagon records show.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Dec. 12 was the 25th anniversary of the Soviet Nuclear Threat Reduction Act of 1991 Since then, Pentagon statistics show, more than 7,600 nuclear warheads have been deactivated, while the United States, Russia and former Soviet republics have destroyed more than 3,600 missiles and missile launchers, 33 submarines, 155 bombers, more than 1.6 million chemical munitions, and more than 4,000 metric tons of chemical weapons.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">Source:-\u00a0http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2016\/12\/22\/trump-calls-stronger-nukes-until-world-comes-its-senses\/95751928\/<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"fb-background-color\">\n\t\t\t  <div \n\t\t\t  \tclass = \"fb-comments\" \n\t\t\t  \tdata-href = \"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/trump-calls-for-stronger-nukes-until-world-comes-to-its-senses.html\"\n\t\t\t  \tdata-numposts = \"10\"\n\t\t\t  \tdata-lazy = \"true\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-colorscheme = \"light\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-order-by = \"social\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-mobile=true>\n\t\t\t  <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t  <style>\n\t\t    .fb-background-color {\n\t\t\t\tbackground: #ffffff !important;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t.fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop iframe {\n\t\t\t    width: 630px !important;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t  <\/style>\n\t\t  ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump calls for stronger nukes until world comes to its senses Trump calls for stronger nukes until world comes to its senses:- President-elect Donald Trump Thursday decried the state of the nation\u2019s nuclear arsenal, saying in a tweet that it had to be strengthened \u201cgreatly\u201d during uncertain times. \u201cThe United [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[837,6208,10791,6221,10790,6862,10792],"class_list":["post-17593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-donald-trump","tag-north-korea","tag-nuclear-weapons","tag-russia","tag-trump-calls-for-stronger-nukes-until-world-comes-to-its-senses","tag-vladimir-putin","tag-warheads"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}