Ex-nuke commanders launch crisis group to educate Trump

[DonViejo]

Source: Politico




By BRYAN BENDER 05/04/17 05:21 AM EDT

A global coalition of former military leaders and diplomats who had responsibility over nuclear weapons is launching a "shadow security council" to offer advice to world leaders on how to reduce what they consider to be the growing danger of a nuclear conflict fueled by the rhetoric of President Donald Trump and destabilizing moves by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Nuclear Crisis Group, which will be announced in Vienna on Friday, boasts nearly two-dozen members of the nuclear priesthood of at least eight major nations — including a former commander of the U.S. atomic arsenal; the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Pakistan; a retired admiral who was in charge of India's nukes; the ex-heads of the Chinese military's strategic studies and science institutes; and Russia's former foreign minister and chief atomic weapons designer. Others joining the initiative include Thomas Pickering, the United Nations ambassador under George H.W. Bush who also served as ambassador to Russia, India and Israel.

Their aims include offering public and private advice in real time to Trump’s team and leaders of other governments in the hope their collective credentials will make officials listen — and take concrete steps to avoid escalation and make a nuclear exchange, whether accidental or on purpose, less likely.

"Not only is the U.S.-Russia relationship on much more shaky ground but the whole political environment has deteriorated," said Richard Burt, the chief negotiator for President George H.W. Bush in the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Moscow and one of the leaders of the group.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/04/trump-nuclear-commanders-237956

[iluvtennis]

1. Like this group is now avaialable...but Trump won't seek out there advice as during primaries...

and GE he said, there's nothing complicated/complex about nukes, I know all about them. GAAAAAH

[WhiteTara]

2. His OCD will kick in and then he'll have to

play with those codes and like all oppositional/defiants he will not hear NO, he'll just hear the codes and have to push those buttons. He needs a padded cell and a twitter account that doesn't go anywhere outside his little phone.

[FairWinds]

3. That Politico article is substantially . .

propaganda, reflecting USAean exceptional magical thinking.

No mention of US nuke build-up, or that it was backed by Obama.

Stresses ". . destabilizing moves by Russian President Vladimir Putin." with no mention
of the destabilizing impact of new more accurate US missiles.

No mention that the US is TREATY BOUND (NPT) is get rid of nukes, and has
for decades subverted disarmament.

This is quite typical of MSM so-called journalism

Vets For Peace

[EX500rider]

4. There is no US "nuke build-up"

The US has been lowering it's nuclear stockpile for awhile.



There is a nuclear modernization program underway as they don't last forever and eventually need to be replaced.
And the US unilaterally disarming and leaving China and Russia, Pakistan etc with their nukes is a really bad idea.

[FairWinds]

5. One can have a "build-up" without increasing . .

the number of warheads . . like this.

https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/USNuclearModernization

And yes, it is both de-stabilizing and in violation of the NPT.

[EX500rider]

6. How is it a "violation" of the NPT?

The US has had nukes since the 40's.

And no, you can not have a "build up" without increasing numbers, that's what build up means.
Modernization does not equal build up.

And modernization of nuclear weapons and command & control of same is a good thing, the newer weapons are safer, harder to hack and I prefer Global Strike Command (or what ever SAC has morphed into) not be using 1960's tube based old junk.
ymmv

[FairWinds]

7. Read Article Six of the NPT

and the UN is taking up that issue this year, and of course
Trump is trying to blow up the process.

And Forbes called it a build-up, "Obama Backs Biggest Nuclear Arms Buildup"

And let me tell you that many of the people who have worked around nukes
are petrified of them - Check our General Dan Butler, Robert McNamara, or a
veritable host of others.

Are you sure you are a democrat?

[EX500rider]

8. So Forbes was wrong...it happens, lol

The wording of the NPT's Article VI arguably imposes only a vague obligation on all NPT signatories to move in the general direction of nuclear and total disarmament,

[FairWinds]

9. I'll go with the ICJ . .

International Court of Justice (ICJ), in its advisory opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, issued 8 July 1996, unanimously interprets the text of Article VI as implying that

"There exists an obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control."

[EX500rider]

10. Sure...

....and as soon as N Korea, Pakistan, China, Russia, UK, France, India, Israel etc get rid of theirs, we will too....good luck with that though..

[FairWinds]

11. That is your Merrikin Exceptionalism at work . .

You don't see that the nation-state that loosed nukes on the
world, and even used them on human beings . .

has any particular responsibility to work for abolition.

You views are very similar to those of Nikki Haley and the Drumph.

I seriously doubt that you are a democrat.

[EX500rider]

12. "I seriously doubt that you are a democrat."

Didn't know unilateral nuclear disarmament was a Democratic Party principle, can you point that out to me somewhere?
I am guessing you can't and that's your own little standard.

[FairWinds]

13. You dodged the question . .

I salute your honesty in not claiming to be a Democrat.

Actually, if you bothered to check, you'd find that the
nuclear arms race has been slowed by numerous unilateral
initiatives over the years - from de-alerting, to taking the
B-52's out of the air, and much more.

Some of these were by the US, and some by other countries.

[EX500rider]

14. I didn't claim anything....

....I just don't think you are the Zampolit around here, no matter what you think.

[FairWinds]

16. You were the one who brought in unilateralism . .

a deflection which shows that you are not discussing in good faith.

[mpcamb]

15. Good luck with that, Ex-nuke commanders...