Tactical Nuclear Weapons and NATO.pdf - Program on Strategic ...

nership, Russian military doctrine identifies <strong>NATO</strong> as
a primary danger. Further, while Western countries
are cutting military spending to deal with the global
financial crisis, Russia plans to spend 20 trillion rubles
($611 billion) on defense through 2020. Ruslan Pukhov,
director of the Moscow-based think tank, Center
for Analysis of Strategies <strong>and</strong> Technologies (CAST),
issued this glum assessment:
The Russian authorities underst<strong>and</strong> the country is
doomed to be the kind of power that needs military
might. ‘Soft power’ doesn’t work for us. We need people
to be afraid of us, <strong>and</strong> we seem to be unable to find
a proper substitute for military power. 5
The Chinese nuclear <strong>and</strong> conventional buildup is a
distant but growing concern. China is deploying two
types of new mobile ICBMs <strong>and</strong> developing multiple
warhead ICBMs <strong>and</strong> submarines to carry new sea
launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). Recent reports
indicate a massive tunnel system—possibly up to
5,000 kilometers (km) long—for building, deploying,
<strong>and</strong> possibly launching nuclear-armed missiles. One
is tempted to ask, “What are the potential long-term
consequences for the West of watching as Russia <strong>and</strong>
China modernize their nuclear arsenal while it sits
back <strong>and</strong> simply maintains the status quo?” Worse,
will the West continue to cut its nuclear forces out of
a misguided notion that reducing the U.S. nuclear arsenal
will motivate others to stop their modernization
<strong>and</strong> building program?
Ballistic missile proliferation remains a continuing
concern, with over 30 nations now possessing ballistic
missiles. North Korea, Iran, <strong>and</strong> India are developing
ICBMs. The Iranians are expected to test their Kavoshgar
5 rocket with a 628-pound capsule carrying
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