Trump tweet about expanding U.S. nuclear capability has experts on edge
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Trump tweet about expanding U.S. nuclear capability has experts on edge
Back in August, nuclear experts told us that the idea of a nuclear-armed President Donald Trump had them on edge. With Trump now officially headed to the White House and still using Twitter to offer vague policy announcements, their fears are no longer based on hypotheticals.
In a tweet Thursday, Trump raised eyebrows by calling for an expansion of the United States’ nuclear capability.
“The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes,” the president-elect wrote.
It’s not clear whether Trump was expressing support for modernizing the nation’s aging nuclear arsenal or for stockpiling more nukes in the U.S. But either way, the message left a number of experts on nuclear arms profoundly disturbed, especially as it arrived just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin called for a similar strengthening of Russian nuclear forces.
“We need to strengthen the military potential of strategic nuclear forces, especially with missile complexes that can reliably penetrate any existing and prospective missile defense systems,” Putin said, according to Agence France-Presse. “We must carefully monitor any changes in the balance of power and in the political-military situation in the world, especially along Russian borders, and quickly adapt plans for neutralizing threats to our country.”
Noam Chomsky, the renowned scholar and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor emeritus, said that Trump’s tweet was “one of the most frightening statements I’ve seen recently.”
“Putin’s is bad enough,” Chomsky said, “but at least it has a defensive cast. It’s about Russia’s borders, not Mexico’s.”
Chomsky also suggested these statements could prompt a change to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Doomsday Clock ― a symbolic representation of how close humanity is to global catastrophe ― which is due to be updated in early 2017. Since 2015, the clock has been set at three minutes to midnight.
“[The clock] just might move even closer to midnight,” Chomsky said.
Although Thursday’s tweet was Trump’s first public comment about nuclear weaponry as president-elect, experts have been sounding the alarm for months about the possibility of him engaging in this sort of escalation.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-tweet-nuclear-weapons_us_585c2c6ee4b0de3a08f4a1d4
GASTLY - SHOCKING and WTF???
And since I enjoy getting a global reaction from our newly elected 'Mega Mouth' ...this was an interesting article >
Well, that ignorant - dangerous tweet, just sent many of our prior presidents spinning in their graves And between those 2 mega ego blowhards of Putin & Chump ...think that China is just going to idly sit on it's thumbs and allow those 2 too assume that they have the biggest - best arsenal's of NUKE's ...well, now the race to build anew will be on!Nuke Experts to Trump: WTF?
Donald Trump tweeted about nuclear proliferation. And that’s not even the most terrifying part.Betsy Woodruff 12.22.16 5:15 PM ET
Nuclear disarmament wonks are just as confused as the rest of the country when it comes to what exactly soon-to-be President Trump will do regarding America’s nuclear arsenal.
“As with just about every Trump tweet, deciphering its actual meaning and intent can be a difficult task,” said Kingston Reif, of the Arms Control Association.
This difficult task is upon us because on Thursday morning, Donald Trump tweeted this:Donald J. Путин Америки
@realDonaldTrump
The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes
What precisely he meant by that is unclear.
“We’re treating him like he’s a normal human being whose utterances have symbolic meaning, but I don’t know,” said Jeffrey Lewis, Director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies. “I don’t know that this is any particular window into his policy or future.”
Ordinarily, when future presidents speak about nuclear weapons, they do so very, very carefully. (Arms that have the potential to end the world have a way of inducing that kind of caution.) What’s more, because the Bombs are never supposed to be used, the signaling around them—how they’re positioned, how they’re tested, and how they’re discussed—becomes of paramount importance.
So when, for example, President Barack Obama spoke in the first months of his administration about eventually ridding the world of nukes, such talk was taken very, very seriously.
This time? Eh, maybe not so much.
Lewis added that in some ways, Trump’s tweet sounds comparable to the typical Republican line on nuclear weapons: that as long as we live in a dangerous world, we need to maintain a robust nuclear capability, rather than downgrading it.
“‘Expand our capabilities?’” Lewis added. “Maybe that means more weapons, maybe that just means the capabilities are better. Policymaking by Twitter is a pretty freaking weird endeavor.”
Trump is not a nuclear weapon wonk. He struggled mightily to answer a question about the nuclear triad in a Republican primary debate last December.
After saying he thought nuclear proliferation was the “biggest problem we have today,” moderator Hugh Hewitt asked him what his priority would be for upgrading American nuclear capabilities.
“I think to me, nuclear, is just the power, the devastation is very important to me,” Trump answered somberly.
Trump has also said he does not think he will need to drop any nuclear bombs as president.
“I will have a military that’s so strong and powerful, and so respected, we’re not gonna have to nuke anybody,” he told GQ in an interview published on Nov. 23, 2015.
The questioner followed up by asking if Trump would “get rid of the weapons.”
“No, no, we wouldn’t get rid of the weapons,” Trump replied. “Because you have so many people out there. But I would be somebody that would be amazingly calm under pressure.”
He made a similar point on the Today show on April 28 of this year.
“It’s a horror to use nuclear weapons. The power of weaponry today is the single greatest problem that our world has,” he said on the show. “I will be the last to use it. I will not be a happy trigger like some people might be. I will be the last, but I will never ever rule it out.”
Trump’s promise to not be “a happy trigger,” however, may not be enough to prevent nuke-related problems. Reif noted that most American presidents don’t bring up our nuclear arsenal in casual conversation (much the less Twitter) because it can be perceived as saber-rattling.
Most commanders-in-chief haven’t made a point of “constantly reminding other countries that we have a devastating nuclear arsenal and you ought to remember that fact,” Reif said.
Trump’s approach, based on today’s tweet, may be different. And if he actually follows through on the changes he’s opaquely hinted at—for instance, by increasing the number of nuclear weapons in our possession or expanding our capabilities to use them—that could undermine his own stated support of nonproliferation.
“It would likely worsen global nuclear weapons competition and the risk of conflict,” Reif said.
Of course, Trump will have plenty of advisors weighing in on his nuclear plans. Among the foremost will be Rick Perry, who he has nominated to head the Department of Energy. During Perry’s ill-fated 2012 presidential bid, he said he wanted to eliminate that department. At the time, he didn’t highlight that one of the agency’s top responsibilities was maintaining the nuclear stockpile.
Over the coming weeks and months, the Trump administration will fill a host of roles related to nuclear weapons. There’s the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Deputy Secretary of Energy, and the Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Affairs. It isn’t yet clear who will take these roles under Trump. And they could all have a sizable impact on how he thinks about nuclear weapons, according to Lewis.
But for now, here’s the thing: We don’t know. When it comes to Donald Trump’s plans for America’s thousands of nuclear weapons—like many of his policies—we will have to wait and see.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/22/nuke-experts-to-trump-wtf.html
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Re: Trump tweet about expanding U.S. nuclear capability has experts on edge
And there were so many - so very many utterances from people that just had no clue about HRC stance on War and what roles she wanted America to play; yet they were repeating the ugly assed rumor 'she's a war monger' ...WTF???
And this is what they've ignored for Cheeto-King's quoted history about his feelings regarding NUCLEAR GRADE WEAPONS! Sweet Jesus, insanity!
And this is what they've ignored for Cheeto-King's quoted history about his feelings regarding NUCLEAR GRADE WEAPONS! Sweet Jesus, insanity!
Guest- Guest
Re: Trump tweet about expanding U.S. nuclear capability has experts on edge
Picture it.
2 years after the nuclear holocaust that is WW3, Trump, his family of Trumpettes and a few surviving generals emerge from the safety of their nuclear bunker to a barren, toxic wasteland, devoid of life, food vegetation and potable water.
"I told ya I would win" will be his triumphant cry.
The bloke is fucking bonkers.
2 years after the nuclear holocaust that is WW3, Trump, his family of Trumpettes and a few surviving generals emerge from the safety of their nuclear bunker to a barren, toxic wasteland, devoid of life, food vegetation and potable water.
"I told ya I would win" will be his triumphant cry.
The bloke is fucking bonkers.
Andy- Poet Laureate & Traveling Bard of NewsFix
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Re: Trump tweet about expanding U.S. nuclear capability has experts on edge
I find the most bizarre and heinous insulting cartoons that put this ugly human in the perfect position that he's placed himself in ...and express my opinion about him in that vain!
It's either laugh historically at this egotistical moron or sob with abject/gut wrenching fear of what's to come. I hear the many friends - elderly - veterans, so heart sick and worried about coming cuts to their monthly benefits and more shocking monthly choices that they'll face without ANY MEDICAL coverage
Holidays are stressful enough without this added pressure and continued strife from such a mega dumbass!
It's either laugh historically at this egotistical moron or sob with abject/gut wrenching fear of what's to come. I hear the many friends - elderly - veterans, so heart sick and worried about coming cuts to their monthly benefits and more shocking monthly choices that they'll face without ANY MEDICAL coverage
Holidays are stressful enough without this added pressure and continued strife from such a mega dumbass!
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Re: Trump tweet about expanding U.S. nuclear capability has experts on edge
Putin just said the same thing in his yearly press conference. Do these guys plan these things together?
Original Quill- Forum Detective ????♀️
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Re: Trump tweet about expanding U.S. nuclear capability has experts on edge
Like minded 'brothers from another mother' ...or 2 peas from the same pod or all of those other lesser thinking humans that live by the 'Mein Kampf' book on total domination!Original Quill wrote:Putin just said the same thing in his yearly press conference. Do these guys plan these things together?
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