Former Trump national security advisor John Bolton warned Monday that the US must recognize an emerging tripolar nuclear order, arguing that it must build up its nuclear arms rather than seek arms control agreements with Russia or China.
Ednews reports this was stated in an article by Bolton in the Washington Post.
"Given the growing strength of the Russia-China entente and China's expanding nuclear-weapons and ballistic-missile programs, Cold War-style, U.S.-Russia arms agreements are not merely inadvisable but dangerous," Bolton wrote in an op-ed in The Washington Post.
He argued that President Vladimir Putin suspending Russia's participation in the New START pact was a wake-up call for the United States to understand that it could not rein in its nuclear rivals through arms agreements. He noted that the treaty only addressed strategic and not tactical nuclear weapons, excluding new technologies such as hypersonic missiles. He also warned that China, which has refused to sign similar agreements, was likely aiming to grow its nuclear assets beyond a point for them to be meaningfully reined in by negotiations.
Bolton warned that even if the US was victorious in a nuclear confrontation with Russia, it could face a subsequent confrontation with China. Alternatively, it could face a nuclear confrontation against an allied China and Russia.
He called for the US to "urgently recalibrate its warhead and delivery-system requirements" and boost its nuclear assets for deterrence and self-defense. He argued it was preferable to have sufficient arms on hand and limit them rather than to not have enough and allow Russia and China the upper hand.
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