Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
1/23/2015
The U.S. should pay attention to its nuclear structure and nuclear relations with Russia, because “we do not want, above all, a nuclear war to erupt,” during a period which has seen Russian President Vladimir Putin invoke the threat of nuclear weapons while invading eastern Ukraine, former national security advisor Brent Scowcroft told the Senate Armed Services Committee during a Jan. 21 hearing on “Global Challenges and U.S. National Security Strategy.” “People haven’t paid much attention to it, but he has publicly commented on the fact that [Russia has] the nuclear weapons, that [Russia has] the capability and so forth,” Scowcroft said. “And he has then matched that with highly provocative air-over flights of Scandinavia, over parts of Western Europe, even all the way to Portugal. So I am a little concerned—when I say a little, I’m underestimating my concern—in that there may be a dangerous streak in his character that could push us to some, possibly, very dangerous confrontations.”
Scowcroft’s words came days after news broke that Russia was ceasing nuclear security cooperation with the U.S., and during a time when U.S. military officials have cited a need to modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal to keep pace with other countries’—including Russia’s—modernization programs while underscoring that they do not believe that contemporaneous modernizations do not constitute a new Cold War. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) asked what Russia’s provocative actions could mean for American nuclear interactions with the country. In his response, Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security advisor to President Jimmy Carter, recommended the “pre-positioning of some forces” to deter Russian aggression, emphasizing that deterrence has to “have teeth in it.” “You know, an American company in Estonia is not going to invade Russia, and Putin will know that,” Brzezinski said. “But he will know that if he invades Estonia, he will encounter some American forces on the ground. And better still, some Germans, some French, and some Brits, of course. And I think if we do that kind of stuff, we are consolidating stability, including nuclear [stability]. And the same goes for the ongoing conflict in Russia and Ukraine.”
