Friday, May 25, 2012

The Nuclear Arms Race Never Ceases


Nuclear weapons just don’t make sense. Walter Pincus. Washington Post

[Excerpt] "The United States has a multi-billion-dollar program to upgrade its three major nuclear warheads and a more costly effort to build new land, sea and air strategic delivery systems."

Majia Here: So much for Obama being a man of peace.

The New York Times: The Bloated Nuclear Weapons Budget (Editorial)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/opinion/sunday/the-bloated-nuclear-weapons-budget.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha211

[Excerpted] "Twenty years after the end of the cold war, the United States still has about 2,500 nuclear weapons deployed and 2,600 more as backup. The Obama administration, in an attempt to mollify Congressional Republicans, has also committed to modernizing an already hugely expensive complex of nuclear labs and production facilities.

Altogether, these and other nuclear-related programs could cost $600 billion or more over the next decade. The country does not need to maintain this large an arsenal. It should not be spending so much to do it, especially when Congress is considering deep cuts in vital domestic programs...

"Washington and Moscow pledged in the 2010 New Start treaty to reduce their number of deployed long-range nuclear weapons to 1,550 from 2,200 by 2017. But unless something changes, both countries will increase nuclear spending in coming years, as they replace or upgrade aging nuclear production facilities and delivery vehicles — submarines, missiles and bombers. That makes no sense..."

For background see my previous posts:

New Nuclear Arms Race
http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/new-nuclear-arms-race.html

We Must End Nuclear Brinsksmanship
http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/we-must-end-nuclear-brinksmanship.html


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