Is US Redeploying Ground Nukes to Europe?

IMAGE SOURCE: todayifoundout.com

by Cheri Roberts, Challenging the Rhetoric, The Guerilla Media Network

After accusing Russia of twice violating  the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) the United States is weighing re-deploying some of it’s ground-launched nuclear power to Europe in order to be more flagrantly in the face of Russia. The INF is the treaty agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union that essentially put a stop to the Cold War.

The current situation between the U.S. and Russia is a far cry from that of last summer when it was all talk of nuclear draw-downs by Obama while in Berlin.

The International Business Times (IBT) is reporting,

Brian P. McKeon, deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, told a joint [Senate] hearing on Russian treaty violations that the US cruise missiles will be redeployed in the region if Russia continues to be adamant about its nuclear program. Russia argued the testing of a ground-launched cruise missile in July 2014 was in compliance with the treaty. GlobalSecurity.org said Russia developed the missile, believed to be an R-500, to “ensure nuclear parity with China.” The latter is not a signatory to the treaty but has highly advanced nuclear weapons. 

President Obama has written a letter to Russia’s President Putin addressing the arms violations and other Senior U.S. Officials have followed suit in a move to try to diffuse any further aggressions. In Europe, the U.S. doesn’t currently possess ground-launched cruise missiles due to the INF however, McKeon “hinted” that it was seriously being considered and that there were military options lined up that included,

” … reactive defense, to counterforce, to counter value defense measures.”

Is Russia moving tactical nuclear weapons systems into Crimea? McKeon, says the Government’s information is based on, “open source” reports that are yet unconfirmed. 

RT reports on Russia’s response to the accusations and threat of military maneuvering by the U.S.,

Russia will not follow “American dictation” over the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Treaty (INF), which the two countries signed back in 1987, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Moscow expressed its “regret that Washington continues to follow such logic of confrontation” in handling its relations with Russia.

“With regards to the possible military steps, which the US officials have hinted at, they would only add tensions to the already very difficult situation. It would hardly strengthen the security of the US and its allies as it was discussed,” the statement said.

The two treaties the U.S. deems — and Russia contests, were violated are: 

• Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
• Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe

​Ground-launched nuclear missiles were deployed in Europe previously however,

In 1991 President George H. W. Bush committed to reciprocal, unilateral pledges with Soviet Secretary General Mikhail Gorbachev to eliminate ground-based tactical nuclear weapons from Europe.  Collectively, these pledges are known as the Presidential Nuclear Initiatives (PNIs).  These battlefield nukes were no longer considered to be necessary as Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union eased.  Battlefield nuclear weapons were also known to be exceptionally vulnerable for theft or rogue actions.  Combined, these non-binding initiatives led to the destruction of approximately 17,000 nuclear warheads.  Since these PNIs were nonbinding, there is no transparency or mechanism for verification and tactical nuclear weapons remain an open issue between NATO and Russia.

The great Stephen Hawking had it right when he said,

“Although September 11 was horrible, it didn’t threaten the survival of the human race, like nuclear weapons do.“

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