US changes nuclear strategy to first strike: Analyst

The United States has changed its military doctrine in favor of using nuclear weapons for preemptive purposes, an analyst writes for Press TV.

“US war doctrine has been changed. US nuclear weapons are no longer restricted to a retaliatory force, but have been elevated to the role of preemptive nuclear attack,” Paul Craig Roberts wrote in a column for Press TV website.

The analyst’s article comes against the backdrop of ongoing tensions between Russia and the US over Ukraine.

Washington has long accused Moscow of interfering in Ukraine by providing arms and support to pro-Russian protesters in the East European country. Russia dismisses allegations of involvement in Ukraine’s unrest.

“Washington has begun the run-up to the Third World War, and Europeans seem to be onboard,” wrote Roberts, adding that the US government has been “demonizing Russia…with shameless lies and propaganda” in an attempt to prepare Americans and its allies for “war with Russia.”

“Having lost ‘the war on terror’ in Iraq and Afghanistan, Washington needs a replacement and has set about resurrecting the Cold War,” the analyst wrote, referring to the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and subsequently of Iraq two years later.

He said some US policymakers wrongly assume that a “nuclear war” would prevent the “rise of Russia and China as checks on Washington’s hegemony over the world.”

“Washington and its media whores continue to beat the drums for war,” wrote the analyst.