William Hartung, a veteran critic of US military spending, took on Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby’s suggestion that a change is needed in U.S. nuclear doctrine because the President needs “more rational nuclear options” in dealing with the threat of regional wars supposedly emanating from both Russia and China. Putting greater emphasis on tactical nuclear weapons “will make a nuclear exchange more likely, not less” Hartung writes in a commentary in Forbes posted yesterday. “And it will accelerate an already troubling growth in the reliance on nuclear threats as a centerpiece of U.S. national security policy.”
Besides, Hartung pointed out, “Being attacked with tactical nuclear weapons is not an option that an adversary will just shrug off without retaliation, and likely with escalation. Once a nuclear attack and counterattack have occurred there is no guarantee that they won’t spark an all out nuclear conflict. So, far from filling some sort of ‘deterrence gap,’ contemplating the use of tactical nuclear weapons will only increase the risk of the very outcome they are meant to head off—a devastating nuclear exchange.”
In Iran, Nour News offered its take on the “recent and highly significant conversation between Tucker Carlson and Joe Kent,” which “goes beyond a routine criticism of the Iran war. The issue now on the table is a claim that the option of using a tactical nuclear weapon against Iran has been raised in Pentagon meetings. The claim has not yet been independently confirmed by official sources, but given the standing of the people making it, it cannot simply be dismissed….
