NEGATIVE/NUCLEAR/RUSSIA

RUSSIAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL NOT BE A MAJOR THREAT IN THE STATUS QUO

RUSSIAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS NO LONGER POSE A MAJOR THREAT TO THE USA BECAUSE THEY LACK A HOSTILE IDEOLOGY BEHIND THEM

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER; The Weekly Standard, November 1, 1999, SECTION: COVER STORY; Pg. 21 HEADLINE: Arms Control: The End of an Illusion; The Cold War was won at Reykjavik. The Senate's defeat of the test ban treaty is Reykjavik II. // ln-acs-11-11-99

After all, the Russians still have enough nuclear weapons today to destroy the United States many times over. But we don't stay up nights worrying about it. We don't make movies and television shows and novels about the coming U.S.-Russian apocalypse, as we did by the bushel during the Cold War. The Russian nuclear arsenal hardly even figures in our politics anymore. Why? The weapons are still there, but the threat is not, because the regime has changed.

The problem was always the regime, not the weapons. With Communist ideology in ruins, Russia may now be a Great Power rival, but no longer is it an immutable enemy of the United States. It was ideology, not nuclear technology, that accounted for the hair-trigger superpower crisis of 40 years. The ideology is dead.

RUSSIA CANNOT AFFORD TO KEEP ITS NUCLEAR FORCES, SO IS ANXIOUS TO NEGOTIATE THEM AWAY

Sam Nunn, a former US senator from Georgia. Brent Scowcroft, former national security adviser to presidents. Arnold Kanter is a senior fellow at The Forum for International Policy; The Boston Globe, September 13, 1999, Pg. A13 HEADLINE: A deal with Russia on arms control? // ln-10/99-acs

- First, they know that with or without new START agreements, their strategic nuclear forces, which they see as one of their last claims on great power status, will continue to shrink as a result of their dire economic straits. They have an interest in using arms control to bring the US nuclear arsenal down to their new level rather than live in a world in which the United States has overwhelming nuclear superiority.

RUSSIA WANTS TO CUT NUCLEAR WEAPONS FROM 6,000 TO 1,500 FOR EACH SIDE

Bradley Graham; Steven Mufson , February 19, 2000, The Washington Post SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A16 HEADLINE: Groundwork Is Laid For Possible Summit; Clinton, Putin May Meet If Russian Wins // ACS-LN

The Russians are eager for a new START accord that could slash each side's strategic arsenal to 1,500 warheads, from more than 6,000 currently.

AFTER START II THERE CAN BE HUGE PROGRESS FOR NUCLEAR REDUCTION IN THE STATUS QUO

As soon as Russia ratifies the START II treaty, negotiations should begin on a new round of START III reductions to slash arsenals way below the 3500 or so deployed strategic weapons each state now plans to retain. Meanwhile, both Russia and the United States could agree that warhead cuts will be accompanied in each case by the verified dismantlement of the reduced weapons and the transfer of their fissile material to monitored storage to prevent reuse for weapons. China, the United Kingdom and France and the undeclared nuclear states should also be brought into the nuclear risk reduction process.

RUSSIA HAS ADOPTED A NO FIRST USE POLICY

JK DUTT, retired Lieutenant-Colonel, Indian Army, March 28, 2001 THE STATESMAN (INDIA) HEADLINE: Imponderables of a nuclear race //VT2002acsln

President Vladimir Putin even grossly modified the Russian General Staff nuclear ideology by openly declaring that Moscow will hesitate to carry out a tactical nuclear strike on conventional aggressor forces, thus dispelling the Flexible Response doctrine so espoused by Nato and which post-Cold War Russia favoured.