Monday, January 4, 2010

Will President Obama's Vision Of A Nuclear Free World Become Reality?

Obama's Nuclear-Free Vision Mired In Debate -- L.A. Times

Pentagon officials have pushed back against the president's goals to shrink the U.S. stockpile and reduce the role of such weapons in foreign policy, sources say.

Reporting from Washington - President Obama's ambitious plan to begin phasing out nuclear weapons has run up against powerful resistance from officials in the Pentagon and other U.S. agencies, posing a threat to one of his most important foreign policy initiatives.

Obama laid out his vision of a nuclear-free world in a speech in Prague, Czech Republic, last April, pledging that the U.S. would take dramatic steps to lead the way. Nine months later, the administration is locked in internal debate over a top-secret policy blueprint for shrinking the U.S. nuclear arsenal and reducing the role of such weapons in America's military strategy and foreign policy.

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My Comment: President Obama is not alone in feeling like this. President Reagan was another U.S. leader who wanted to abolish nuclear weapons from the face of the map .... but geopolitical conditions made such an ambition next to impossible.

I expect this debate to continue for a while, but I am also well aware that there are too many interested groups who have not embraced President Obama's nuclear vision of the world .... and it is these groups/Generals/politicians/lobbyists/etc. who will have the most sway in determining what the future of U.S. nuclear policy will be.

Expect a compromise to be met in the new year, with a force reduction being proposed alongside a need to modernize America's existing nuclear deterrent.

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