Political Cartoons

I have to admit that while the argument for upgrading warheads is not entirely without merit, it also has plenty of detractors right here in the US, based purely on the technical side. Some believe that the old warheads are more reliable because they are fully tested. Not to mention a country with its biggest ever deficit does not need to find a new way to spend massive amounts of money. All that aside, on the political front it clearly sends an aggressive message to China, and maybe Russia too, as well as undermining US credibility in any nuclear disarmament talks. The whole premise -- and in practice it is a flimsy one -- is to reduce the amount of nukes in the world, and fixing warheads is not a disarmament measure. Assuming of course that the US had any credibility in the first place because in the end in seems the logic remains, "Nukes are okay for us and our allies, but not for you."