Russian expert says nuclear doctrines obsolete, need revising
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Moscow, 11 June: International terrorism, which put its worst foot forward on 11 September, 2001, makes former
nuclear doctrines obsolete, while the latter need revising, Aleksey Arbatov, head of the International Security Centre
of the International Economy and International Relations Institute, said. "Nuclear deterrence cannot be used
against international terrorism," Arbatov said during a conference on WMD proliferation, held in Moscow on Friday
[11 June]. He noted that the terrorist had no territory, industry, population, or active armed forces, which could
become targets of a retaliation strike. "If a state harbours terrorists, for instance, as the Taleban harboured
Al-Qa'idah in Afghanistan, nuclear deterrence can hardly be justified with regards to such a state, since it can
hardly deter terrorists, capable of crossing borders quickly and covertly," Arbatov emphasized.
According to him, terrorists may even be interested in provoking a nuclear strike against one state or another in
order to promote their cause. "In this sense even the US-led operation in Iraq in 2003 was very favourable for
international terrorism," he added. He thinks that nuclear deterrence as the main guarantee of preventing a nuclear
war will become obsolete in the near future.
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