Contributed To HellasFrappe By
E.I.R. Strategic Alert
www.eir.de
The EASI brings together a group of high-level military and political leaders from Europe, North America, and Russia, and is co-chaired by former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, who was chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee for many years, former Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, and former German Deputy Foreign Minister and current head of the Munich Security Conference Wolfgang Ischinger, who, together with former British Defense Secretary Des Browne, signed the NYT piece.
In Feb. 2012, the initiative had published the results of a two-year study on missile defense, which begins: “No issue is more urgent or central to achieving progress toward the goal of creating an inclusive Euro-Atlantic Security Community than making European missile defense a joint project of the United States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and Russia.”
Unfortunately, during that year, the Obama Administration and NATO have escalated their policy of provocations toward Russia. Therefore, the four signers are sounding the alarm.
Security policies in the Euro-Atlantic region, they write, “are dangerously out of date and demand urgent attention.... Cold War-era security concepts and their associated weapons and military postures continue.
Large strategic nuclear forces remain deployed on prompt launch, ready to be fired in minutes; thousands of tactical nuclear weapons are still stockpiled in Europe; a decades-old missile defense debate remains stuck in neutral; and new security challenges associated with promptstrike forces, cybersecurity, and space remain contentious and inadequately addressed....
The alarming asymmetry between military capabilities and a true Euro-Atlantic partnership is dangerous and potentially destabilizing, undermining the trust necessary for cooperative efforts to meet emerging security threats in Europe and across the world.”
The EASI, they continue, believe “today’s leaders should move decisively and permanently toward a new security strategy, one that considers offensive and defensive military forces, nuclear and conventional weapons, and cybersecurity and space.
Thinking together about these issues in an integrated way can lead to transformational change in Euro-Atlantic security and nuclear and conventional force postures from the persistent Cold War shadow of mutually assured destruction to mutual security.
Issues relating to nuclear weapons and missile defense should receive the highest priority in the first five years. It should also be possible to take steps relating to conventional forces, cybersecurity and space during the initial phase.”
Beside the extreme security threat, the authors also mention the economic benefits of reducing arsenals at a time when the U.S. plans to build “new nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines and strategic bombers at a cost of more than $400 billion, and to extend the life of nuclear weapons deployed in Europe at a cost of $10 billion.” Russia reportedly plans to spend $61 billion to modernize its strategic nuclear forces, while the UK plans to replace the Trident at a cost of some $38 billion.
Their conclusion:
“There is an historic -- and fleeting -- opportunity to act. There is no more important security issue for leaders to address.”
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