Obama’s Nuclear Legacy Leaves America and Allies Less Safe

The Daily Signal ^ | January 23, 2017 | Michaela Dodge

[Perseverando]

In his Jan. 11 remarks on nuclear weapons policy, the outgoing Vice President Joe Biden praised former President Barack Obama’s nuclear weapons policy.

In reality, there are very few grounds for congratulations when it comes to Obama’s legacy.

Take, for example, the Iran deal. Biden argued that the administration got the deal through a combination of international sanctions and hard-nosed diplomacy.

In reality, the deal was sold to the American public by concealing the full extent of concessions the administration had to make to get the Iranians to agree to it. The deal does not prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and in fact rewards years of Iranian noncompliance with its International Atomic Energy Agency obligations.

While the administration’s efforts to bring nuclear issues on the international agenda with nuclear security summits have been worthwhile, the administration has acted under a misguided impression that others will be motivated to follow U.S. leadership out of a sense of benevolence.

Biden argued that U.S. unilateral reductions make the United States safer. But there is no evidence for such optimism. In fact, Russia has been increasing the number and the prominence of its nuclear weapons, despite U.S. unilateral reductions.

Biden downplayed the potential need for nuclear weapons, saying:

[Perseverando]

Obama has put America and the "sane" world at risk of nuclear terrorism and extortion from the insane, totalitarian madmen that he aided and abetted for the past 8 years.

[VTenigma]

the deal was sold to the American public

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They might have been selling, but no one was buying.