Two days before signing a milestone arms cuts pact with Russia, U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled on Tuesday Washington's new nuclear doctrine declaring potential terrorist attacks and proliferation of nuclear weapons, rather than an attack from a hostile state, the main security threat for the United States.
Obama said in his statement on the release of Nuclear Posture Review that the new doctrine and the new START treaty he will sign with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Prague on Thursday were part of his efforts to pursue "a comprehensive agenda to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons."
"The Nuclear Posture Review, led by the Department of Defense, recognizes that the greatest threat to U.S. and global security is no longer a nuclear exchange between nations, but nuclear terrorism by violent extremists and nuclear proliferation to an increasing number of states," Obama's statement said.
Obama said his plan included the reduction of the role of nuclear weapons, but promised to Americans and allies that the shift of the focus will not affect the goal of preserving U.S. military superiority and safeguarding their security. He affirmed the central importance of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
"The United States will not conduct nuclear testing and will seek ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty," Obama said. "The United States will not develop new nuclear warheads or pursue new military missions or new capabilities for nuclear weapons."
He said Washington will now focus on non-nuclear means to ensure its strategic goals.
"It (the Nuclear Posture Review) recognizes that our national security and that of our allies and partners can be increasingly defended by America's unsurpassed conventional military capabilities and strong missile defenses," Obama said.
This remark may irk Russia, alarmed about U.S. plans to develop its national missile defense shield in Eastern Europe. Russia insists that cuts in nuclear strategic weapons should go along with limitations on anti-missile systems to avoid shifts in the balance of powers.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington will be "working with them [Moscow] to try to find common ground around missile defense, which we are committed to pursuing."
"The START treaty is not about missile defense. It is about cutting the respective sizes of our arsenals, our strategic offensive weapons," Clinton said adding that Russian concerns over missile defense were "no surprise."
"We have persistently sought to explain to them [Russia] the purpose for missile defense, the role that we believe it can and should play in preventing proliferation and nuclear terrorism," she said.
Russian officials have said that the U.S. missile shield plans did not pose any threat to Moscow at the moment, but made clear Russia could pull out of the START treaty if their progress threatened the strategic balance of forces.
In contrast to Moscow's worries, Washington's biggest concern is the nuclear ambitions of countries like Iran or North Korea. North Korea has tested its own atomic weapons and the West suspects Iran of pursuing a similar goal. The United States say their missile shield plans are mainly meant to avert potential strikes from Iran.
In a move, clearly aimed at encouraging new and potential members of the nuclear club, Obama promised that the United States "will not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapons states that are party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and in compliance with their nuclear nonproliferation obligations."
But he had a tough message to violators of the NPT pact. "Those nations that fail to meet their obligations will therefore find themselves more isolated, and will recognize that the pursuit of nuclear weapons will not make them more secure," he said.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates later specified the target of Obama's warning.
"The NPT has a very strong message for both Iran and North Korea," he said at a news conference. " We essentially carve out states like Iran and North Korea, that are not in compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and basically all options are on the table when it comes to countries in that category along with non-state actors who might acquire nuclear weapons."
WASHINGTON, April 6 (RIA Novosti)
