Guess what the retro-Soviets have just said:
“In an interview published today in Izvestia, Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Kremlin’s security council, said the new doctrine offers “different options to allow the use of nuclear weapons, depending on a certain situation and intentions of a would-be enemy. In critical national security situations, one should also not exclude a preventive nuclear strike against the aggressor.”
What’s more, Patrushev said, Russia is revising the rules for the employment of nukes to repel conventionally armed attackers, “not only in large-scale, but also in a regional and even a local war.”
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/10/russia-well-nuke-aggressors-first/
Wasn’t everyone supposed to make peace, hold hands, and sing Kumbaya once THE ONE was elected?
The world’s malefactors didn’t get the meme.
And just in time for Obama to allow the Russians to count our weapons:
Russia and the United States have tentatively agreed to a weapons inspection program that would allow Russians to visit nuclear sites in America to count missiles and warheads.
The plan, which Fox News has learned was agreed to in principle during negotiations, would constitute the most intrusive weapons inspection program the U.S. has ever accepted.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said publicly Tuesday that the two nations have made “considerable” progress toward reaching agreement on a new strategic arms treaty.
The 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, expires in December and negotiators have been racing to reach agreement on a successor.
Clinton said the U.S. would be as transparent as possible.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/13/tentative-inspection-program-allow-russia-visit-nuclear-sites/
This is a continuation of the START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) which stipulated that the United States and Russia would reduce and limit their total number of deployed strategic nuclear delivery vehicles (SNDVs) to 1,600. Launchers associated with eliminated missiles also had to be eliminated. In addition, both sides were required to reduce their total number of warheads to 6,000 (attributed to deployed ballistic missiles and deployed heavy bombers). These final reduction limits were met by the December 2001 deadline.
http://dtirp.dtra.mil/TIC/synopses/start.cfm
By the way, Putin weighs in with “don’t intimidate Iran”.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned major powers on Wednesday against intimidating Iran and said talk of sanctions against the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme was “premature”.
Putin, who many diplomats, analysts, and Russian citizens believe is still Russia’s paramount leader despite stepping down as president last year, was speaking after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Moscow for two days of talks.
“There is no need to frighten the Iranians,” Putin told reporters in Beijing after a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
“We need to look for a compromise. If a compromise is not found, and the discussions end in a fiasco, then we will see.”
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-43160620091014
Compromise?? You mean ‘negotiate without preconditions’ and rubberstamping the fraudulent installment of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad isn’t compromise enough?
No one with any historical knowledge of the way they ‘negotiate’ will trust the Russians. They’ve never been the type to honor treaties. If you think this is going to be “transparent”, I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn for sale, cheap.