US Nuclear Doctrine Threatens War Against 'Any Rival Challenging US World Order'

Colonel Le The Mau is a senior commentator with the Vietnamese Defense Ministry's Military Strategy Institute. Below is his analysis in full.

A few days ago, the US Department of Defense published the US's new nuclear doctrine. Together with the National Security Strategy and the National Defense Strategy, adopted earlier, the new nuclear doctrine represents the official system of thought of America's leadership under President Donald Trump.

The document sets forth a course for achieving all-round US superiority over any enemy, in line with Trump's 'America First' and 'Peace Through Strength' slogans, and as demonstrated by Washington's actions. The US is prepared to unleash a war against any rival who encroaches on America's monopoly position, or who violates the 'world order' established by the USA, in which they dominate over others.

This course is directed against the resurgent power of the new Russia, which America sees as the main threat, as well as China, North Korea and Iran. The current and future nuclear potential of these countries is declared to be a threat to US national security, and the reason for its preparedness to launch a preventative nuclear strike aimed at defending America.

It must not be forgotten that the United States was the first and only country to ever use nuclear weapons, and against a country which did not have this deadly type of weapon. The nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not force Japan to surrender, as Washington suggests. This was done by the Soviet Army, which smashed the Japanese Kwantung Army.

Appropriating for themselves the achievements of others in the Second World War, the United States wanted other countries to submit to them in a unipolar post-war world. If the Soviet Union, followed by China, had not come to possess nuclear weapons, and had not achieved a strategic balance, there is no telling how the world order might have looked following the war.

If one were to imagine that with its new nuclear doctrine, the United States were somehow able to achieve superiority in nuclear weapons, with no one else able to respond in kind, how would Washington behave? It would increase its interference in the internal affairs of other countries, and would be able to attack any state which the US deems to be in violation of the order they have imposed.

However, global realities are at odds with the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review. North Korea, Iran, China, and especially Russia have made major progress in developing and deploying nuclear weapons, as well as defensive anti-missile systems. This is in no way a factor 'stimulating the US to look for a new strategy to prevent an attack on American soil, its allies or partners' as suggested by Donald Trump.

The premise that the United States is 'faced with the danger of being attacked', recorded in the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, as well as in the National Security Strategy and the National Defense Strategy, is not new. Its aim is to prepare American public opinion for the development of new US weapons systems for a possible future war. This provision carries with it the danger of a nuclear war which could destroy the world.

In this sense, the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan by the United States in 1945 are a timely warning in modern conditions. It is not surprising that the Japanese, who have been the victims of American nuclear bombing, are actively protesting against the country's new nuclear doctrine.

Vietnam, like other countries, would like to see a strong America, one that is responsible for the development of a multipolar world. But an America which regains its power in the manner prescribed by the National Security Strategy, the National Defense Strategy and the new nuclear doctrine of the Trump administration is in fact, a huge catastrophe.

The views and opinions expressed by Colonel Le The Mau are those of the expert and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.