#11
Excerpt
US Department of State
Foreign Media Reaction
January 18, 2002
U.S. NUCLEAR POLICY: 'SLEIGHT OF HAND' DOESN'T ESCAPE FOREIGN NOTICE

RUSSIA:

"America Sticks To Its Guns"

Vladimir Georgiyev stated in centrist Nezavisimaya Gazeta (1/18): "As expected by many, the talks in Washington have ended practically in nothing. The United States has barely been reacting to Moscow's initiatives in the area of strategic offensive arms. Despite Washington's stated commitment to the dialogue, what has really been done to date is too little--and this applies not only to the Americans' decision to withdraw from the ABM Treaty and their plans to store dismounted warheads, but also to their intention to resume nuclear tests."

"Newsmakers Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz Eclipse Secretary Powell"

Nikolai Zlobin of the U.S. Center for Defense Information commented in reformist Izvestiya (1/18): "Politicians and the military in Russia, their focus on one aspect alone, point out that the Americans don't want to destroy nuclear warheads but will store them instead. There are other, more serious irritants in the bilateral relations. Firstly, the Bush team does not feel like signing any accords.... Secondly, the Americans believe that they can save [money] not only by reducing arms but also by not destroying warheads. Frugality like that won't make the process of arms reduction irreversible.... Finally, the United States still trusts that it has won the Cold War, so it doesn't give a damn about what the vanquished party thinks. The Americans' success in Afghanistan is a factor, too. Donald Rumsfeld and his 'right hand' Paul Wolfowitz have had their influence inordinately increased.... They have become the chief newsmakers, with Colin Powell hardly seen or heard from."

"Relapse Into Past"

Vitaliy Gan said in neo-communist weekly Slovo (# 2, 1/18): "Moscow's calls to make nuclear arms reduction irreversible have been ignored with characteristic haughtiness. The White House thinks the Russians' position weak since they will have to write off their fast-aging nuclear arsenal anyway. Surely, playing up Russia's financial and economic problems is not consistent with Bush's harangues about 'new times' in relations between Russia and the United States."

"Putin Riding The Texas Mustang"

Leonid Nikolayev painted the following picture in nationalist opposition Sovetskaya Rossiya (1/17): "As Putin whips on the Texan mustang going farther West, he may one day look back and find that he is all alone, with Russia having gone the other way."

"Deja Vu"

As the United States and Russia were set to begin the first round of consultations on nuclear arms reduction, the reformist Vremya MN (1/15) predicted in a piece by Vladimir Frolov: "What is going to happen gives no solace. Most probably we are in for a repeat of the ABM story. Either we will have a 'feeble' agreement, with the issue of 'irreversible cuts' left aside and everybody pretending to see nothing wrong with that, or there will be no agreement at all, if both sides refuse to budge."

"Another Myth Exploded"

Vasiliy Safronchuk commented in nationalist opposition Sovetskaya Rossiya (1/15): "Quite recently pundits, interpreting the results of the meeting between Putin and Bush in Texas last November, insisted that the presidents had agreed to reduce their countries' nuclear arsenals equally by two-thirds. That, they alleged, was the price the U.S. president had to pay for his withdrawal from the ABM Treaty. The myth crashed last week once the local media caught on to something from a secret Pentagon report on changes in the U.S. defense doctrine.... Oddly, Putin still keeps quiet about Washington's intention not to destroy, but rather to store the number of nuclear warheads he promised to reduce to a third in the next few years. This is another instance of Russia having been humiliated in front of the whole world, just a few weeks after the U.S. president announced his withdrawal from the ABM Treaty. Washington's action is all the more humiliating because it follows in the wake of the Kremlin's letting the Americans gain bases in Central Asia.... Washington does not hide that its long-term plans in post-Soviet Central Asia go far beyond its 'antiterrorist operation' in Afghanistan.... Obviously, the Americans have been gaining ground in Central Asia with Putin's blessing."

"U.S. Doesn't Trust Russia"

Andrey Lebedev concluded in reformist Izvestiya (1/14): "Despite its partnership with Russia in the war on terrorism, Washington doesn't quite trust this country.... Both U.S. reports (one by the Pentagon and one by the CIA) can only be interpreted as a clear hint that Russia is going to have a shaky position at the coming consultations (on arms control in Washington). Yet Moscow is determined to insist on 'controllable and irreversible' cuts.... There is also the idea of compensation for storage of Russian nuclear warheads. Increased financial assistance from the United States may become a sweetener, as Russia is urged to drop its 'irreversibility' demand. But in that case, Russia would be right not to hurry to use up warheads after they are taken off the missiles either."

"Back To The Old Agenda"

Aleksandr Lomanov commented in reformist Vremya Novostey (1/11): "As the global war on terrorism turns into daily humdrum, there comes more of the 'old agenda' in international relations. Though Russia and the United States, starting /to come together on September 11, are still on converging courses, their relations, for the most part, are new in name alone. Judging by two major documents (one by the Pentagon and one by the CIA) on nuclear and rocket technology that have just been published in the United States, nothing has changed."

"President Bush Spares His Warheads"

Ivan Safronov opined in reformist business Kommersant (1/10): "U.S. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld ordered the creation of a Missile Defense Agency (MDA). The task of the MDA is to exercise strict centralized control over all the ABM programs being implemented in the different armed services of the United States. Simultaneously, Washington announced it is forgoing the destruction of nuclear warheads being cut under the existing Russian-U.S. arrangements. The decision now is to store a large part of them.... The most recent decision of the Bush administration to forego the complete destruction of the warheads being cut and to put a large part of them in storage as a reserve (at issue are the Russian-U.S. agreements to cut their strategic arms to the level of 1,700-2,000 nuclear warheads), made public during the Congress hearings on Tuesday, would clearly not suit the Kremlin. As Kommersant learned from sources in the General Staff, the Russian Foreign Ministry will forward a clarification request to the United States in the near future. 'We cannot be satisfied by the contribution Washington is prepared to make to nuclear disarmament: 50 Peacekeeper ICBMs, and two or three hundred warheads whose 'useful life' has expired. This is ridiculous,' the Kommersant correspondent was told by a ranking General Staff official."

"Bush And The Bomb"

Official Rossiiskaya Gazeta wrote about the reaction in Russia to Washington's possible resumption of underground nuclear tests (1/10): "Almost simultaneously, two influential U.S. newspapers--the Washington Post and New York Times--published a version of a classified Pentagon report on the state of U.S. nuclear forces, which recommends a resumption of the underground nuclear tests.... The Russian military took this information quite calmly. In October last year Colonel-General Igor Volynkin, chief of the 12th Main Department of the Russian Defense Ministry, said that, according to his information, U.S. specialists have been keeping their nuclear testing ground at a half-year readiness for the re-start of nuclear tests. Ranking sources in the Russian General Staff point out that the possible resumption of U.S. nuclear tests may be due to at least two reasons. Firstly, the drafting of programs to develop a national ABM defense. Secondly, the natural obsolescence of nuclear warheads which are now 'on duty' or stored in nuclear arsenals. Russia can also resume its nuclear tests, which was mentioned by Volynkin. For this eventuality, the Central Testing Ground on Novaya Zemlya is now being prepared."

"Underground Plans"

Andrei Lebedev and Dmitry Safonov observed in reformist Izvestiya (1/9): "The United States is set to renew underground nuclear tests, as evidenced by the document the Bush administration sent to the U.S. Congress yesterday.... American officials stress the need to conduct tests to check the combat-worthiness of the nuclear warheads on service duty.... If the United States does resume underground nuclear explosions, it would be for the sole purpose of developing new types of nuclear weapons. Most probably warheads for the future NMD. The problem is that the American project of intercepting enemy missiles with its own anti-missiles is not very effective.... The USSR was solving the problem of intercepting enemy ballistic missiles with the help of a nuclear explosion. That achieved 100 percent success rate in interception. Apparently the U.S. has decided to take a leaf from the Russian notebook."

BACK TO THE TOP    #190 CONTENTS