Biden calls for ridding world of nuclear weapons

WASHINGTON, Oct 14 : US President Joe Biden claimed in a statement that the world needed to strive for the complete elimination of the nuclear arsenal, keeping silent about the significant expenditures of the US government on the development and strengthening of its own nuclear triad.

“We must continue making progress toward the day when we can finally and forever rid the world of nuclear weapons. The United States stands ready to engage in talks with Russia, China, and North Korea without preconditions to reduce the nuclear threat,” the US leader said in a statement.

Biden stressed that there was no benefit for these countries or the world as a whole “to forestall progress on reducing nuclear arsenals.”

Biden’s statement was published in connection with the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the Japanese organization of survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Nihon Hidankyo.

In his congratulations, however, the head of the White House also completely ignored the fact that it was the United States that was responsible for the nuclear bombings of the Japanese cities.

In the 2025 fiscal year, which began in the United States on October 1 of this year, it is planned to spend over $49 billion from the federal budget on the development of strategic deterrence forces. Moreover, according to calculations by the US Congressional Budget Office, spending on US nuclear forces in the period from 2023 to 2032 is estimated at $756 billion.

The current US administration, led by US President Joe Biden and Vice President and now presidential candidate Kamala Harris, has repeatedly publicly stated its desire to extend the Russian-US Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), which formally expires in February 2026.

At the end of September, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, the coordinator for strategic communications on the White House National Security Council, John Kirby, told Sputnik that the US was ready to resume dialogue with Russia on a new treaty and was waiting for a decision from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Such public diplomacy occurs simultaneously with ongoing military aid to Kiev and the desire to inflict a strategic defeat on the Russian Federation, as the US authorities claim. In addition, the US continues to strengthen its military presence in Europe, supplying long-range missiles to the region, which are being transferred to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and also intends to deploy new long-range systems, including supersonic weapons, in Germany.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has stated directly that Moscow was not ready to resume negotiations on the New START Treaty without changes to the hostile anti-Russian line of the United States. In October, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that negotiations on strategic stability must be built with an understanding of the changed conditions. He also pointed out that it was practically impossible to discuss strategic offensive weapons without taking into account the military nuclear infrastructure in Europe, without including European states in the negotiation process and without touching on other elements of strategic security.

(UNI)