Exclusive - Trump wants to make sure U.S. nuclear arsenal at 'top of the pack'

[webfact]

Exclusive - Trump wants to make sure U.S. nuclear arsenal at 'top of the pack'

By Steve Holland

REUTERS

 

U.S. President Donald Trump is interviewed by Reuters in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 23, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wants to ensure the U.S. nuclear arsenal is at the "top of the pack," saying the United States has fallen behind in its weapons capacity.

 

In a Reuters interview, Trump also said China could solve the national security challenge posed by North Korea "very easily if they want to," ratcheting up pressure on Beijing to exert more influence to rein in Pyongyang's increasingly bellicose actions.

 

Trump also expressed support for the European Union as a governing body, saying "I'm totally in favour of it," and for the first time as president expressed a preference for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but said he would be satisfied with whatever makes the two sides happy.

 

In his first comments about the U.S. nuclear arsenal since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump was asked about a December tweet in which he said the United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capacity "until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes."

 

Trump said in the interview he would like to see a world with no nuclear weapons but expressed concern that the United States has "fallen behind on nuclear weapon capacity."

 

“I am the first one that would like to see ... nobody have nukes, but we’re never going to fall behind any country even if it’s a friendly country, we’re never going to fall behind on nuclear power.

 

"It would be wonderful, a dream would be that no country would have nukes, but if countries are going to have nukes, we’re going to be at the top of the pack," Trump said.

 

Russia has 7,300 warheads and the United States, 6,970, according to the Ploughshares Fund, an anti-nuclear group.

 

"The history of the Cold War shows us that no one comes out 'on the top of the pack' of an arms race and nuclear brinkmanship," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the independent Arms Control Association non-profit group.

 

"Russia and the United States have far more weapons than is necessary to deter nuclear attack by the other or by another nuclear-armed country,' he said.

 

The new strategic arms limitation treaty, known as New START, between the United States and Russia requires that by February 5, 2018, both countries must limit their arsenals of strategic nuclear weapons to equal levels for 10 years.

 

The treaty permits both countries to have no more than 800 deployed and non-deployed land-based intercontinental and submarine-launched ballistic missile launchers and heavy bombers equipped to carry nuclear weapons, and contains equal limits on other nuclear weapons.

 

Analysts have questioned whether Trump wants to abrogate New START or would begin deploying other warheads.

 

In the interview, Trump called New START "a one-sided deal."

 

"Just another bad deal that the country made, whether it's START, whether it's the Iran deal ... We're going to start making good deals," he said.

 

"WE'RE VERY ANGRY"

 

The United States is in the midst of a $1 trillion, 30-year modernization of its ageing ballistic missile submarines, bombers and land-based missiles, a price tag that most experts say the country cannot afford.

 

Trump also complained that the Russian deployment of a ground-based cruise missile is in violation of a 1987 treaty that bans land-based American and Russian intermediate-range missiles.

 

"To me it's a big deal," Trump said.

 

Asked if he would raise the issue with Putin, Trump said he would do so "if and when we meet." He said he had no meetings scheduled as of yet with Putin.

 

Speaking from behind his desk in the Oval Office, Trump expressed concern about North Korea's ballistic missile tests and said accelerating a missile defence system for U.S. allies Japan and South Korea was among many options available.

 

"There's talks of a lot more than that," Trump said, when asked about the missile defence system. "We'll see what happens. But it's a very dangerous situation, and China can end it very quickly in my opinion."

 

China has made clear that it opposes North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and has repeatedly called for denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and a return to negotiations between Pyongyang and world powers.

 

But efforts to change Pyongyang's behaviour through sanctions have historically failed, largely because of China's fear that severe measures could trigger a collapse of the North Korean state and send refugees streaming across their border.

 

Trump's meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe earlier this month in Florida was interrupted by a ballistic missile launch by North Korea.

 

Trump did not completely rule out possibly meeting Kim at some point in the future under certain circumstances but suggested it might be too late.

 

"It's very late. We're very angry at what he's done, and frankly this should have been taken care of during the Obama administration," he said.

 

According to Japanese news reports, the Japanese government plans to start debate over the deployment of a U.S. missile defence system known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, and the land-based Aegis Ashore missile defence system to improve its capability to counter North Korean ballistic missiles.

 

The strength of Trump’s remarks in favour of the EU took some Brussels officials by surprise after his support for Britain's vote last summer to exit from the EU.

 

"I'm totally in favour of it," Trump said. "I think it's wonderful. If they're happy, I'm in favour of it."

 

Statements by him and others in his administration have suggested to Europeans that he sees little value in the Union as such, which Trump last month called a “vehicle for Germany."

 

(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason, Roberta Rampton, Emily Stephenson, John Walcott, Matt Spetalnick, Arshad Mohammed and David Brunnstrom in Washington and Alastair Macdonald in Brussels; editing by Ross Colvin)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-02-24

[PremiumLane]

Money for health care, education, welfare? Sorry, we are skint.

 

Money for more arms? How much do you need?

[IMA_FARANG]

At one time the Rationale for a Nuclear arsenal was called MAD  an abbreviation  for Mutually Assured Destruction or MAD.

Basically this assured that if they had enough Nuclear weapons to kill all of us, we also would have enough to  kill all of them also..

I guess to someone like Donald Not My President and his followers this sounds like a good idea.

To more rational people we just called the idea MAD.

 

 

[ExpatOilWorker]

1 minute ago, IMA_FARANG said:

At one time the Rationale for a Nuclear arsenal was called MAD  an abbreviation  for Mutually Assured Destruction or MAD.

Basically this assured that if they had enough Nuclear weapons to kill all of us, we also would have enough to  kill all of them also..

I guess to someone like Donald Not My President and his followers this sounds like a good idea.

To more rational people we just called the idea MAD.

 

 

 

MAD only works as a deterrent if all nuclear powers commit to the same doctrine. China have a not-fire-first doctrine, but like with their island building in the South China sea, they often say one thing and do something entirely different.

One nightmare scenario is if the Chinese truck their missiles right up to the border of Russia and launch. Now the US have about 10 min to decide if the want to retaliate against Moscow or Beijing.

The 3,000 km of underground tunnels that China have been carving out is another sign that China don't agree to the mutual destruction part of MAD and expect enough force and the elite to survive an attack.

[kamahele]

Because we don't have enough already.....

[steveyinasia]

So is the nuclear race back on?

[Lupatria]

As an old hippie I would like to quote a recent Nobel laureate:

 

"Man thinks 'cause he rules the earth he can do with it as he please
And if things don't change soon, he will

Who's gonna take away his license to kill?"

[pitrevie]

"You know what uranium is, right? This thing called nuclear weapons like lots of things are done with uranium including some bad things". Well at least Trump has sorted that out, he knows far more than any scientist you care to name.

[ddavidovsky]

Insecurity is the most destructive force on earth.

[maewang99]

I got an idea.  let's test a couple of our nukes at the North Pole.

 

why wait ten years for the Artic to be totally ice free all year long?

 

Edited February 24, 2017 by maewang99

[earlinclaifornia]

2 hours ago, pitrevie said:

"You know what uranium is, right? This thing called nuclear weapons like lots of things are done with uranium including some bad things". Well at least Trump has sorted that out, he knows far more than any scientist you care to name.

That is so ignorant.  "he knows far more than any scientist you care to name."

[elgordo38]

4 hours ago, steveyinasia said:

So is the nuclear race back on?

Of course it is. Here is your tip for the day buy Raytheon.

[elgordo38]

Yes the arms race is back on and tax breaks for the rich and infrastructure spending. Here is how it will be paid for.

http://americandownfall.com/gop-proposes-bill-to-cut-funding-of-school-lunches-for-students-in-need/?utm_source=American+Downfall+E-Alerts+Members&utm_campaign=2ddb4e3738-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_02_23&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6d30d34b8d-2ddb4e3738-13672267

[Srikcir]

5 minutes ago, elgordo38 said:

Of course it is. Here is your tip for the day buy Raytheon.

Or buy that underground nuclear shelter to survive the 10-year nuclear winter.

Stock in Raytheon won't matter by then.

[elgordo38]

1 minute ago, Srikcir said:

Or buy that underground nuclear shelter to survive the 10-year nuclear winter.

Stock in Raytheon won't matter by then.

If you really shop around you can still find a house with one in the back yard from the 50's Refurbishment needed. 

[rudi49jr]

I can see him throwing a tantrum in the Oval Office:

 

"Whaa, they can destroy us 50 times over and we can only destroy them 49 times over, whaaa, it's just not fair!!"

 

This man has the mind of a four-year-old bully, and this man-child is now president of the most powerful country in the world. I don't know about you folks, but I'm scared as hell, and starting to think about building a bomb shelter in my back yard, or building a boat to survive the floods that will surely come when Trump is done killing the environment.

[Prbkk]

1 hour ago, elgordo38 said:

If you really shop around you can still find a house with one in the back yard from the 50's Refurbishment needed. 

Just like in that movie "Blast From the Past" ( with Brendan Fraser, Alicia Silversmith, Cissy Spacek, and that other guy). Very funny.

[elgordo38]

Just now, Prbkk said:

Just like in that movie "Blast From the Past" ( with Brendan Fraser, Alicia Silversmith, Cissy Spacek, and that other guy). Very funny.

One of my favorite movies. Sad I liked Brendan Fraser but he is starting to look like me now. He has done little in the way of acting. Aging does that to actors. I watched a new movie with Woody Harrelson in it for all of 15 minutes. I call em paycheck movies. 

[IAMHERE]

MAD was always a misnomer and China understands. USA always planned to destroy the 'others' ability to make war and the 'others' always planned to kill 99% of their enemy. So the USA can harm the Chinese or the neo-Soviets but after the war they have hundreds of millions of people and the USA has maybe a couple million. Who wins, they do. America has enough nuclear weapons they just need to aim at people instead of machinery.

[Lupatria]

6 hours ago, pitrevie said:

"You know what uranium is, right? This thing called nuclear weapons like lots of things are done with uranium including some bad things". Well at least Trump has sorted that out, he knows far more than any scientist you care to name.

You know what insanity is right? If one sees many colors with eyes closed and hear voices when no one is around, it's time to change medication.

[dunroaming]

Yep,  good to see trump being as predictable as ever.  There speaks a man with a very small penis desperately trying to make up for it.

[Srikcir]

14 hours ago, IAMHERE said:

So the USA can harm the Chinese or the neo-Soviets but after the war they have hundreds of millions of people and the USA has maybe a couple million. Who wins, they do.

True that after a nuclear exchange more Chinese will survive than Americans.

Not true with Russia having only one-third the US population.

 

But neither "fact" motivates a state-sponsored first-strike. It's an issue of whose form of government and leadership will survive a nuclear exchange. Leaders ultimately are political survivalists that require an ideological base for continued existence. Communist and oligarchy/fascist ideologies require military strength and suppression of people's freedoms for their existence. Democracies require consensus and freedom of liberties and rights. Democracy is not numerically dependent on the size of population nor military might.

 

Which leadership would survive a nuclear holocaust? The Chinese and Russians might actually find themselves more free and independent after a nuclear holocaust and fragment into self-determined city-states or regions, devoid of state-sponsored suppression. That evolution should scare leadership based on Communist/oligarchy/fascist ideologies than a nuclear exchange itself. Thus, it is not MAD that deters nuclear war but political/ideological survival. 

[bandito]

18 hours ago, Srikcir said:

Or buy that underground nuclear shelter to survive the 10-year nuclear winter.

Stock in Raytheon won't matter by then.

You know the PC game Fallout?

That's how it will be by then.

[soalbundy]

14 hours ago, dunroaming said:

Yep,  good to see trump being as predictable as ever.  There speaks a man with a very small penis desperately trying to make up for it.

Nothing like consistency, first he trashes the EU now he is in favour of it 

[Grouse]

22 hours ago, earlinclaifornia said:

That is so ignorant.  "he knows far more than any scientist you care to name."

Uranium is elementary but what about irony?

[mrfill]

Dr Strangelove is suddenly coming true...

 

Try watching that film from 55 years ago. And then check the calendar.

[whatawonderfulday]

On ‎24‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 3:03 PM, rudi49jr said:

I can see him throwing a tantrum in the Oval Office:

 

"Whaa, they can destroy us 50 times over and we can only destroy them 49 times over, whaaa, it's just not fair!!"

 

This man has the mind of a four-year-old bully, and this man-child is now president of the most powerful country in the world. I don't know about you folks, but I'm scared as hell, and starting to think about building a bomb shelter in my back yard, or building a boat to survive the floods that will surely come when Trump is done killing the environment.

Why insult 4 year olds ?

[DM07]

Exactly what the world needs! [emoji19]


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect