New Think And Old Weapons -- A Commentary

From The New York Times:

Every four years the White House issues a “nuclear posture review.” That may sound like an anachronism. It isn’t. In a world where the United States and Russia still have more than 20,000 nuclear weapons — and Iran, North Korea and others have seemingly unquenchable nuclear appetites — what the United States says about its arsenal matters enormously.

President Obama’s review was due to Congress in December. That has been delayed, in part because of administration infighting. The president needs to get this right. It is his chance to finally jettison cold war doctrine and bolster America’s credibility as it presses to rein in Iran, North Korea and other proliferators.

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My Comment: An interesting set of ideas .... but the Russians (so far) have shown zero interest in pursuing any of them. Their focus is to go step by step .... and they do not want surprises like missile defense thrown into the mix. But in the meantime they are modernizing their nuclear stockpiles, and keeping their options open.

The U.S. should do the same.