The changes have been kept secret and focus on the “emerging partnership” between Russia and China and the conventional weapons that North Korea and Iran are supplying to Russia for war.
US President Joe Biden approved a classified nuclear plan in March that for the first time reorients the country’s deterrence strategy to focus on China’s rapidly expanding nuclear arsenal.
This is the document “Nuclear Employment Guidance” (“Guidelines for nuclear use”, in Portuguese) which, the newspaper points out, is updated every four years, but this time the review and approval was kept secretwithout the White House making any announcement.
“The president recently published a nuclear weapons deployment guide to take into account multiple adversaries,” Vipin Narang, one of the Pentagon’s nuclear strategy experts, revealed earlier this month, stressing that there was changes in lines of thoughtwith special attention to “the significant increase in size and diversity”of China’s nuclear arsenal.
According to The New York Times, “emerging association”between Russia and China and the conventional weapons that North Korea and Iran are providing to Russia for the war in Ukraine has altered Washington’s strategy. More than that, the document addresses the China’s nuclear ambitionsdetermined to meet or surpass American and Russian arsenals.
According to the paper, Washington expresses concern over the breakdown of talks with China on improving nuclear security, and the document examines in detail whether the United States is prepared to deal with nuclear crises or a combination of nuclear and non-nuclear weapons.
The new document acts as a reminder of sorts for whoever wins the upcoming US presidential election that the nuclear landscape has undergone many changes and is “much more volatile” than it was just three years ago, particularly with Vladimir Putin’s threats about the possible use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.…Read more by Ashley
