[Sixstrings]

Doomed to Cooperate -- Russia, The U.S. And Nuclear Weapons After The End Of The Soviet Union

Following the Reagan-Gorbachev summit in Reykjavik in 1986, the idea of such collaboration took root in the minds of scientists and military leaders on both sides, becoming known as the lab-to-lab collaboration, i.e., the collaboration between the American weapons laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the Russian nuclear weapons institutes, VNIIEF in Sarov and VNIITF in Snezhinsk.

In the few years following Reykjavik, American nuclear scientists were invited to the Soviet secret cities. Cities so secret, says Hecker, that they didn’t even appear on Soviet maps.

Then the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The resulting economic crisis in the new Russian Federation was worse than the Great Depression. Fears emerged that some nuclear materials were no longer secure. Would loose nukes fall into the hands of terrorists or rogue states and plunge the world into a nuclear nightmare?

The nature of the nuclear threat changed from one of “mutual annihilation” to “what would happen if nuclear weapons were lost, stolen or somehow slipped out of control of the Russian government.”

...

the Americans were concerned about the million Russian nuclear scientists and workers that were now out of work and whose new poverty constituted a real security risk.

So the lab-to-lab collaboration took on a more urgent quality.

In early 1992, Russian Laboratory Directors Vladimir Belugin of VNIIEF and Vladimir Nechai of VNIITF came to Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos, and two weeks later LANL Director Siegfried Hecker and LLNL Director John Nuckolls went to VNIIEF and VNIITF. Thus began not only the scientific endeavors but also the intensity, emotion, friendships, and humor that accompanied them, and that seem to have been equally important for their ultimate success.

The Russians were proud of their scientific accomplishments and demonstrated them to the Americans scientists as they toured the Russian nuclear complex. While the United States had about 25,000 nuclear weapons at that time, there were almost 40,000 nuclear weapons in Russia and the old Soviet states in Eastern Europe. Russia had about 3 million pounds of plutonium and highly enriched uranium ready to be made into nuclear weapons. Compared to the 13 pounds of plutonium that made up the nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki in 1945, this was a lot of nuclear material that needed to be secured.

Hecker pointed out that the Russian scientists realized the awful destruction that even a single nuclear bomb could wreak and were motivated to act responsibly, causing him to remark, “Therefore, you know, we were doomed to work together to cooperate.”

The Bush 41 administration put in place nuclear initiatives to calm the nervous Russian government, providing funding, taking nuclear weapons off of American Navy surface ships and taking nuclear weapons off of alert so that the Russians could do the same. The U.S. Congress passed the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction legislation, which helped fund some of these loose nuke containment efforts.

And while those were positive results, Hecker noted that it was ultimately the cooperation among scientists, the lab-to-lab-cooperation, that allowed the two nuclear adversaries to make “the world a safer place.”

The results have been impressive. No nuclear event has occurred since the dissolution of the Soviet nuclear complex despite persistent fears, and the combined U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons arsenals now number less than 15,000.

For Hecker, this is not just an American story, it is a selfless reconciliation with a longtime enemy for the greater good, a “relationship not corrupted by ideological or nationalistic differences, but one reflective of mutual interests of the highest order.”

As Hecker puts it, “We discovered that we not only shared common scientific bonds, but also the enormous sense of responsibility we had for nuclear weapons. The scientists and engineers of the weapons laboratories on both sides considered ourselves the stewards of the nuclear weapons. We conceived them, we designed them, we helped build them, we gave custody to the military, and finally we took them back for disassembly. We had cradle-to-grave responsibility for the weapons and could not rest until they were dismantled.” ...

According to Hecker, “The primary reason why we didn’t have a nuclear catastrophe was the Russian nuclear workers and the Russian nuclear officials. Their dedication, their professionalism, their patriotism for their country was so strong that it carried them through these times in the 1990s when they often didn’t get paid for six months at a time.”

The sentiment from laboratories in both the United States and Russia is that this lab-to-lab cooperation was not only productive in its time but should continue into the future.

However, many of the cooperative programs between our two countries have ended, including the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program, the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC), the nuclear warhead safety program (WSSX) and the safety and security of fissile materials program (MPC&A).

The challenge now is how to renew the support for such endeavors in Moscow and in Washington when relations between our countries are at a particularly low point.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2016/07/12/doomed-to-cooperate-russia-the-u-s-and-nuclear-weapons-after-the-end-of-the-soviet-union/#52cef3322c67

[shortonoil]

This has nothing to do with Russian aggression, and a whole lot to do with selling weapons systems. When you are selling $trillion systems that no one really needs, or can afford - a little incentive is helpful.

[AgentR11]

However, many of the cooperative programs between our two countries have ended, including the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program, the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC), the nuclear warhead safety program (WSSX) and the safety and security of fissile materials program (MPC&A).

The challenge now is how to renew the support for such endeavors in Moscow and in Washington when relations between our countries are at a particularly low point.

Its very unlikely to resume such reductions in the next two decades, I'd estimate, simply because at the moment, Russia is entirely dependent upon the use of nuclear weapons to make a NATO invasion of Russia too costly.

I believe, and Putin has also echo'ed this sentiment, that this is NOT likely to remain the case long term. The accuracy and speed of high end munitions makes the nuclear warhead part kind of superfluous. As Russia converts to modern weaponry and a professionalized armed force, conventional warheads delivered by extremely accurate, hypersonic weapons, will be able to do equivalent strategic damage, without the civilization ending horror left over by thousands of nuclear detonations.

At that point, Russia can deliver sufficient cost in response to a NATO invasion, to make such an invasion completely unsupportable; and thus we can then ramp down the number of warheads, recover the enriched material for fuel (Russians are big on building nuclear power plants), and finally remove at least one path to extinction from the table.

But Russia will never again even consider the possibility that NATO is sufficiently trustworthy to not require a catastrophic deterent.

[sparky]

.
"Russia will never again even consider the possibility that NATO is sufficiently trustworthy to not require a catastrophic deterent"

that's the crux of the nuclear weapon problem , nobody want to die but many buy life insurance

[Sixstrings]

Its very unlikely to resume such reductions in the next two decades, I'd estimate, simply because at the moment, Russia is entirely dependent upon the use of nuclear weapons to make a NATO invasion of Russia too costly.

I don't recall what the current state of all the arms control agreements is. I think a couple of them have been broken already, or lapsed or something. (someone correct if I'm wrong)

Certainly, neither side needs any MORE than 15,000 of them.

will be able to do equivalent strategic damage, without the civilization ending horror left over by thousands of nuclear detonations.

Well, there have ALWAYS been tactical nukes, too. I don't see how hypersonic missile swarms is anything safer, overall, or merely tactical.

At that point, Russia can deliver sufficient cost in response to a NATO invasion, to make such an invasion completely unsupportable; and thus we can then ramp down the number of warheads, recover the enriched material for fuel (Russians are big on building nuclear power plants), and finally remove at least one path to extinction from the table.

This is like the gun control debate, and AR's and magazine sizes. It matters.

In a perfect world, it would be nice if all ICBMs could be done away with, and no hypersonic missile swarms. All anybody needs is tactical nukes. Then that would eliminate the "end the world risk."

There's also a lot else that could be done; I've always thought there should be some kind of joint command and monitoring center, between US and Russia. And give russia aid to improve their early warning systems. Heck, have Russians over here at our early warning systems, and Americans over there.

Share early warning system assets, satellites, etc.

And then also, put those old safety agreements back in place. Recognize Crimea if that can seal the seal, but Russia would still have to stop chewing up Ukraine and can't annex anything else, or fight us in Syria or the Baltics.

[onlooker]

And so the proxy wars continues but the truth is coming out from all areas and all types of people. http://www.globalresearch.ca/i-am-a-syr ... nt/5544450
I Am A Syrian Living in Syria: “It was Never a Revolution nor a Civil War. The Terrorists are sent by your Government”

[ennui2]

Ah, back to the old Onlooker. Linking to tinfoil.

[onlooker]

Centre for Research on Globalization / Centre de recherche sur la mondialisation

The Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) is an independent research and media organization based in Montreal. The CRG is a registered non-profit organization in the province of Quebec, Canada.

In addition to the Global Research websites, the Centre is involved in book publishing, support to humanitarian projects as well as educational outreach activities including the organization of public conferences and lectures. The Centre also acts as a think tank on crucial economic and geopolitical issues.

The Global Research website at http://www.globalresearch.ca publishes news articles, commentary, background research and analysis on a broad range of issues, focusing on social, economic, strategic and environmental issues.

[ennui2]

You really are the most gullible person I've ever come across.

Enjoy.

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Globalresearch

Whenever someone makes a remarkable claim and cites GlobalResearch, they are almost certainly wrong.

[Quinny]

Whenever someone makes a claim and cites Rationalwiki, they are certainly wrong.

[ROCKMAN]

Quinny - I don't know. Given what a cluster f*ck it appears to be with no obvious path to victory it's not that difficult to believe the US and NATO are behind it. LOL

[Quinny]

Take a look at Rationalwiki. It's clearly written by nutters for nutters.

[ennui2]

Whenever someone makes a claim and cites Rationalwiki, they are certainly wrong.

When someone says "Whenever someone makes a claim and cites Rationalwiki, they are certainly wrong." then they're by definition a nutter.

[sparky]

.

On the subject of nuclear treaties , there is a serie of them , some are adhered to , like the ban on atmospheric testing , stationing weapons in space , procedures for a broken arrow incident ( loosing some nukes somewhere )
some have never been ratified but have been adhered to ( SALT 2)
some have seen one of the parties walk out of

the main one in effect now is "new START " signed by Obama and Medvedev in 2012 it should be valid for 10 years extendable for 5 years more by mutual agreement

basically instead of counting warheads the focus is pretty exclusively on delivery vectors
giving a total of 1550 nukes instantly deliverable ( those guys are pretty coy with the language )

As a treaty , it's a bit of a dog , two subject are not written in
- reload from the stored stockpile ( about 10.000 each , some being short range tacticals )
- missile shield deployment ,the Russia side decided ultimately that the US would not bulge on their deployment
That a pretty big problem
Obama made some promises ( since broken ) through the chief negotiator Mrs Goetemoller
and directly to Medvedev during a meeting ( the mike was left open )
nonetheless , the Russian had been stung repeatedly by Washington speaking with a forked tongue
and had a clause inserted that if the missile shield went full steam ahead they would pull out .
while they could , it seems they keep this off the table so far , until La Clinton bare her teeth

[Sixstrings]

NATO is said to be preparing a military force of up to 300,000 personnel, capable of being deployed within just two months, in response to growing tensions between the West and Russia.

He told the Times: “We have also seen Russia using propaganda in Europe among Nato allies and that is exactly the reason why Nato is responding. We are responding with the biggest reinforcement of our collective defence since the end of the Cold War.”

Adam Thomson, the outgoing permanent representative to Nato, estimates that at present, it would take the military alliance 180 days to deploy a force of 300,000, and that speeding up this rate is of top importance. ...

Igor Sutyagin, an expert at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, said: "Russia wants to show that it can intimidate NATO… and NATO is saying to Russia, 'If you show up, we'll be there as well'."

Meanwhile, Russian authorities have been accused of attempting to pervert the democratic process of the US presidential election by hacking into Democrat emails and sharing findings with vigilante publishers such as WikiLeaks and DC Leaks.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/729453/nato-putin-russia-war-troops-military

Huge Nato land army to meet Russian aggression

Nato commanders want to prepare a substantial land force capable of deterring Russian aggression.

Jens Stoltenberg, the alliance’s secretary-general, did not give precise figures, but Sir Adam Thomson, Britain’s outgoing permanent representative to Nato, said he thought that the goal was to speed up the response time of up to 300,000 military personnel to about two months. At present a force of this size could take up to 180 days to deploy.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/huge-nato-land-army-to-meet-russian-aggression-xsdnldzkq

This story was on Drudgereport. Reading it, it's not "doomy" per se, but just that NATO wants to speed up its mobilization capability from six months to two months.

Russia and NATO Hold Dual Drills 150 Miles Apart in Balkans
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-u-s-hold-dual-drills-150-miles-apart-balkans-n677351

Collection of recent news reports, regarding increased Russian bomber probing over Europe. Denmark, Germany, Norway, Portugal, Turkey, UK, Finland and Sweden have all had to scramble interceptions:

https://youtu.be/PF9Tspt7cp4
(I *THINK* that's all recent news, anyhow. I actually can't tell, this same exact news has been going on for two years now!)

Analysis of it is that Putin "doesn't want war with the West" but that he's doing this to shore up support at home, rather than people complain about the economy. And, he just wants to be tough and flex muscles.

The West is concerned though, because the Russian bombers don't have transponders turned on and there could be an accident.

ANYHOW -- the *most serious* thing going on right now, is the issue of Russian government hacking and meddling in US and European politics.

[Plantagenet]

In two more months Hillary will be President and the personal friction between Obama and Putin will be over.

I hope Hillary's first move as our new President will be to meet with the Russians and give them another "reset button" to return US-Relations to the friendlier state they were in before Obama and Putin began quarreling and basically restarted the cold war.


I hope to god President Clinton will be able to "reset" relations with Russia back to where they were before Obama and Putin started quarreling. The last thing the US needs is an idiotic war with Russia.

[Tanada]

Lots of pretty pictures at link below quote.

According to reports, Yves Chandelon, the 62-year-old auditor general of NATO was found miles away from both his home and office.

His body was found in the Belgian town of Andenne, 62 miles away from his home in Lens on December 16.

According to local newspaper reports Mr Chandelon was the registered keeper of three weapons however the gun found at the scene did not belong to him, it has been claimed.

And more bizarrely it has been reported locally that the gun which killed him was found in the glovebox of the vehicle.

Local news reports say Mr Chandelon's family are concerned about the circumstances of the case.

They say initial suggestions that it was a possible suicide are incorrect.

And it has been reported that the former director of The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Luxembourg had complained of getting strange telephone calls before he died and "felt threatened".

Belgian newspaper group SudInfo.be reported Mr Chandelon's family has a number of unanswered questions surrounding the strange death.

The newspaper claims local prosecutor Vincent Macq is probing the death but that a post mortem is yet to be carried out.

Part of that investigation is the fact that Mr Chandelon was responsible for probing terror financing as part of his high ranking job.

Mr Chandelon was employed by the NATO support and procurement agency (NSPA) in Capellen in south-western Luxembourg, 7 miles west of Luxembourg City.

The local newspaper Luxemburger Wort reported Mr Chandelon had gone to Belgium to visit a friend.

They said police are currently probing whether he had received any threats that could be related to his work and highlighted that the gun used was not registered in his name.

As Auditor General, Mr Chandelon was responsible for internal accounting at NSPA as well as external investigations into money laundering activities and terrorist financing.

According to Flemish newspaper The Morning Mr Chandelon's relatives said he attended his office Christmas party the night before he died.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/747 ... cumstances

[ROCKMAN]

T - And a small bit of editing of the previous post. Odd that the left criticizes the president-elect for doing something they wouild have praised Secretary Clinton for doing:

"In one more month Trump will be President and the personal friction between Obama and Putin will be over.

I hope Trump's first move as our new President will be to meet with the Russians and give them another "reset button" to return US-Relations to the friendlier state they were in before Obama and Putin began quarreling and basically restarted the cold war.

[vtsnowedin]

T - And a small bit of editing of the previous post. Odd that the left criticizes the president-elect for doing something they wouild have praised Secretary Clinton for doing:

"In one more month Trump will be President and the personal friction between Obama and Putin will be over.

I hope Trump's first move as our new President will be to meet with the Russians and give them another "reset button" to return US-Relations to the friendlier state they were in before Obama and Putin began quarreling and basically restarted the cold war.

I doubt the sweetness and light between Trump and Putin will last long at all.Putin is just too ambitious and will cross lines that require a response.

[Cog]

Trump should invite Putin to the inauguration. Instead of having Melania hold the Bible when Trump is sworn in, have Putin hold it. Followed up by marching Marines and Spetsnaz, squadrons of B-52 and TU-95 bombers flying overhead. Make it a regular May Day pass in review from the Soviet era.

I would LOL all day long as the media melted down over it.

Oh and invite Netanyahu and have him sit by Obama. The ultimate troll.