re: #377 avanti

But Reagan said trust and verify. He also was pushing ahead with SDI (star wars - missile defense) in the case that the Soviets didn’t reduce their nukes and attempted to attack as the stockpiles were drawn down.

Obama is throwing missile defense out the window in re: Europe, and pushing for unilateral nuclear disarmament as a sign of “leadership” with regimes that have no such interest. Why would the Iranians give up their nuclear weapons ambitions if the US does so first? Iran has a totalitarian religious leadership, which is furthering its ideological and theological aims - and nuclear weapons would help them achieve those goals. Obama complete misses that singular point.

Then there are the nations that have regional arms races, like Pakistan and India, both of which have gone to war several times and have regular skirmishes across the Line of Control. Pakistan’s weapons are not nearly as secure as anyone would hope, and yet they have enough firepower to lay waste to vast portions of India (and India has a similar capacity). If one destabilizes the numbers even a little bit, you give the nation with more weapons a significant tactical advantage, that could actually lead to a nuclear exchange - the opposite of what Obama wishes for.