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Will Obama Have the Guts to Ditch America’s First Nuclear Strike Policy?

© REUTERS / Jonathan ErnstUS President Barack Obama delivers remarks on the police shootings in Dallas after meeting with EU leaders at the NATO Summit in Warsaw, Poland July 8, 2016.
US President Barack Obama delivers remarks on the police shootings in Dallas after meeting with EU leaders at the NATO Summit in Warsaw, Poland July 8, 2016. - Sputnik International
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Britain, South Korea, France and Japan will be deeply disappointed by President Barack Obama’s potential declaration of a “no first use” nuclear-weapons policy for the United States, The Washington Post wrote citing mostly unnamed sources.

US President Barack Obama (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (R) walk towards the Atomic Bomb Dome after laying wreath in the Peace Momorial park in Hiroshima on May 27, 2016 - Sputnik International
Asia
Japan’s Abe Said to Resist Obama’s No First Use Nuclear Proposal
After the news about President Obama’s planned announcement of a “no-first use” nuclear policy and his decision to advance his nuclear non-proliferation agenda at the September session of the UN Security Council initially appeared in the Washington Post a month ago, President Putin’s press secretary said that the Kremlin hadn’t yet received any official confirmation but doubted that it was just “a rough guesstimate” on the part of the Washington Post.

According to Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin, “President Obama’s initiative is  making US allies nervous about their own security. Several allied governments have lobbied the administration not to change US nuclear-weapons policy by promising never to be the first to use them in a conflict.”

Washington’s allies have various reasons for objecting to President Obama’s initiative.

Tokyo and Seoul worry about North Korea’s missile program, while America’s European allies fear that with the first nuclear strike doctrine gone, some countries might be tempted to use chemical and biological weapons against their enemies.

Others fear that the landmark declaration could increase the risk of a conventional conflict with countries like North Korea, China and Russia.

In an interview with Sputnik Alexander Perendzhiev, an independent Moscow-based military expert, said he didn’t have much faith in The Washington Post’s report.

“Even if Obama really makes such a statement, there is nothing new about this. China and then Russia have previously pledged not to be the first to use nuclear weapons. The missile shield system, which is now in place, was developed to defend against a nuclear strike, but Obama makes no mention of this. But even if he goes ahead with this declaration, we can’t be sure that Britain and France will follow suit,” Alexander Perendzhiev said.

He also mentioned other nuclear states that might likewise be unwilling to go along.

“India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea also have nukes. How about them? Maybe this is just an election race  publicity stunt or maybe this is how Obama wants to go down in history as a peacemaker just to justify his Nobel Peace Prize?” Perendzhiev wondered.

Meanwhile, The Japan Times has quoted unnamed government representatives in Tokyo that “the United States is studying different options. As long as there has been no political decision made to this effect we cannot comment on every piece of news that comes along.”

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