Pentagon provides update on overall US military strategy
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, at the Pentagon in Washington, Thursday, October 27, 2022. AP - Susan Walsh
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4 mins
The new American defense strategy has been published.
This document sets the strategy of the most powerful army in the world for the years to come.
But it was also a question, this Thursday, October 27 at the Pentagon, of the conception of nuclear deterrence observed by Washington.
The atomic bomb is intended to deter "
any form of strategic attack
", including conventional ones.
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The Pentagon warns: the nuclear weapons with which the United States of America are equipped are intended to “
deter any form of strategic attack
”.
Understand: conventional included.
It's the country's new nuclear strategy, a document released for the first time along with the new defense strategy in general - and the new missile posture - on Thursday.
"
This includes the use of a nuclear weapon, whatever its power, and this includes very important attacks of a strategic nature, with the use of non-nuclear means
", details to the press a senior official of the Ministry of Defense.
The latter specifies that this new posture is intended to "
complicate the decision-making
" of the adversary, at a time when Russia accuses Ukraine of preparing to use a "dirty bomb", then pointing the finger his diet, and isolate him.
►Related: Putin Charges the West Again, While Reaching Out to Discuss
"
Russia has carried out its aggression against Ukraine under the nuclear threat, with irresponsible statements, nuclear exercises on irregular dates and lies concerning the potential use of weapons of mass destruction
", details the text.
This is about twenty pages long.
A longer version, classified defense, had been transmitted to the American Congress several months ago.
The text stops at the passage on the Pyongyang regime.
While Washington expects an imminent nuclear test from North Korea, the Pentagon warns that “
any nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies and partners will be unacceptable and will lead to the end of this regime.
".
There is no scenario in which the Kim regime could use nuclear weapons and survive.
The point on the rivals
In its new defense strategy for the years to come, the greatest military power in the world draws up its conclusions: certainly, China poses a “
fundamental
” risk for its security in the decades to come, but Russia represents an “
acute threat
”. », the words are chosen.
According to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who presented the text to the press, Beijing "
is the only competitor that intends both to modify the international order and, increasingly, the means to do so
" .
.
On the other hand, if “
unlike China, Russia does not pose a systemic threat to the United States in the long term
”, it “
poses an immediate and vivid threat to our interests and our values
”.
“
China has embarked on an ambitious effort to expand, modernize and diversify its nuclear forces
”, welcomes the Pentagon documentation, specifying that Beijing “
likely wishes to possess at least 1,000 nuclear warheads by the end of the decade
”.
But it is Russia that deserves the title of "the
main rival of the United States with the most diverse and capable nuclear forces
".
Moscow has 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and another 2,000 undeployed, Washington estimates.
"
Its modern nuclear arsenal, which is expected to increase, poses a long-term existential threat to the United States and our allies and partners
," said the US Department of Defense.
In the 2030s, the United States will, for the first time in its history, face two major nuclear powers (...) strategic competitors and potential adversaries.
No fatalities on the horizon
Russia's invasion of Ukraine demonstrates that the nuclear danger "
persists and could worsen, in an increasingly competitive and unstable geopolitical context
", write the Americans in their documentation.
As for Beijing, "
China's increasingly provocative rhetoric and coercive activities against Taiwan are destabilizing, risk causing misunderstandings, and threaten peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait
".
But the Pentagon notes however that a “
conflict with China is neither inevitable nor desirable
”.
And the documentation released today specifies that the United States “ will only
consider the use of nuclear weapons in extreme circumstances to defend the vital interests of the United States, its allies and its partners
”.
►Read also: Wagner in West Africa: good advice from American Victoria Nuland
Note, however, that this is not the time for discussion.
The White House has indeed stressed, still this Thursday, that Joe Biden would not participate in any bilateral meeting with Vladimir Putin on the occasion of the G20 summit, where the two leaders are to meet, in November in Bali.
The US president "
has no intention of sitting down with
" his Russian counterpart, said the spokesman of the executive for national security issues, John Kirby.
With agencies
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