American nuclear strategy
President Barack Obama has taken one step more towards his vision of a world free of nuclear weapons, with the new nuclear strategy of the American government. Should the USA be attacked with conventional weapons, Washington will no longer respond with a nuclear strike. The USA has also declared that it will not conduct any more nuclear tests or develop new nuclear warheads.
On Tuesday afternoon US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates presented the new US nuclear strategy in Washington D.C.
The US government has now declared for the first time that it will not resort to the use of nuclear weapons against states that do not themselves have a nuclear capacity. Equally Washington has undertaken not to respond with nuclear weapons if it is attacked with biological or chemical weapons, provided the countries in question comply with the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran and North Korea have, however, already violated the provisions of this Treaty.
The single largest threat to the USA and to global security is no longer a nuclear tit for tat with other states. The new priorities of American nuclear policy are rather to prevent nuclear terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
An important step towards a world without nuclear weapons
The US nuclear strategy is an "important step in the right direction" towards more disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, Deputy Government Spokesman Christoph Steegmans told the press in Berlin.
Chancellor Angela Merkel will be visiting the USA next week. In Washington D.C. the Nuclear Summit will convene on 12 April. More than 40 heads of state and government will be discussing how to control the nuclear materials used for civilian purposes of generating atomic power. They aim to prevent this material falling into the hands of terrorists. Angela Merkel will be taking the opportunity to discuss in detail with the American President his new nuclear strategy.
Nuclear weapons in Europe
It is estimated that 200 tactical nuclear weapons are currently stockpiled in Europe. Atomic warheads are still stored in Germany too. Robert Gates and Hillary Clinton announced that NATO will decide on any changes to be made.
"This opens up opportunities to reduce the stockpiles of so-called tactical nuclear weapons in Europe, and hence to withdraw these weapons from Germany," states Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle online at bild.de. This would happen "in close consultation with our allies," he continues.
New Start Treaty
Tomorrow another step will be taken in the direction of nuclear disarmament, when President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will sign the new Start Treaty in Prague.
In 1991 in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start 1), the USA and Russia undertook to limit the number of warheads for strategic nuclear weapons initially to 6,000 with 1,600 delivery vehicles. In 1993 Start II limited the number of warheads to a ceiling of 3,500 for each side. The Treaties expired at the end of 2009.