The nuclearization of diplomacy

On August 21, six nuclear-capable B-52H Stratofortress bombers, representing approximately oneseventh of the war-ready US B-52H bomber fleet, flew from their home base in North Dakota to Fairford Air Base in England for several weeks of intensive operations over Europe. Although the actual weapons load of those giant bombers was kept secret, each of them is capable of carrying eight AGM86B nuclear-armed, air-launched cruise missiles (ALCMs) in its bomb bay. Those six planes, in other words, could have been carrying 48 city-busting thermonuclear warheads. (The B-52H can also carry 12 ALCMs on external pylons, but none were visible on this occasion.)

With such a load alone, in other words, those six planes possessed the capacity to incinerate much of western Russia, including Moscow and St Petersburg. Talking tough and carrying a nuclear stick

The B-52 Stratofortress is no ordinary warplane. First flown in 1952, it was designed with a single purpose in mind: to cross the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean and drop dozens of nuclear bombs on the Soviet Union. Some models were later modified to deliver tons of conventional bombs on targets in North Vietnam and other hostile states, but the remaining B-52s are still largely configured for intercontinental nuclear strikes.

With only 44 of them now thought to be in active service at any time, those six dispatched to the edge of Russian territory represented a significant commitment of US nuclear war-making capability. What in god's name were they doing there? According to American officials, they were intended to demonstrate the United States' ability to project overwhelming power anywhere on the planet at any time and so remind our NATO allies of Washington's commitment to their defense.

"Our ability to quickly respond and assure allies and partners rests upon the fact that we are able to deploy our B-52s at a moment's notice," commented General Jeff

Harrigian, commander of US Air Forces in Europe. "Their presence here helps build trust with our NATO allies … and affords us new opportunities to train together through a variety of scenarios."

While Harrigian didn't spell out just what scenarios he had in mind, the bombers' European operations suggest that their role involved brandishing a nuclear "stick" in support of an increasingly hostile stance toward Russia.

During their sojourn in Europe, for example, two of them flew over the Baltic Sea close to Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania that houses several key military installations. That September 25 foray coincided with a US troop buildup in Lithuania about 105 kilometers from election-embattled Belarus, a Russian neighbor.

Since August 9, when strongman Alexander Lukashenko declared victory in a presidential election widely considered fraudulent by his people and much of the international community, Belarus has experienced recurring anti-government protests.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that his country might intervene there if the situation "gets out of control," while US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has implicitly warned of American intervention if Russia interferes.

"We stand by our long-term commitment to support Belarus' sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as the aspiration of the Belarusian people to choose their leader and to choose their own path, free from external intervention," Pompeo insisted on August 20. The flight of those B-52s near Belarus can, then, be reasonably interpreted as adding a nuclear dimension to Pompeo's threat.

In another bomber deployment with no less worrisome implications, on September 4, three B-52s, accompanied by Ukrainian fighter planes, flew over the Black Sea near the coast of Russian-held Crimea. Like other B-52 sorties near its airspace, that foray prompted the rapid scrambling of Russian interceptor aircraft, which often fly threateningly close to US planes.

At a moment when tensions were mounting between the US-backed Ukrainian government and Russian-backed rebel areas in the eastern part of the country, the deployment of those bombers off Crimea was widely viewed as yet another nuclear-tinged threat to Moscow.

As Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), tweeted, "Extraordinary decision to send a nuclear bomber so close to contested and tense areas. This is a real in-your-face statement."

And provocative as they were, those were hardly the only forays by US nuclear bombers in recent months. B-52s also ventured near Russian air space in the Arctic and within range of Russian forces in Syria. Meanwhile other B-52s, as well as nuclearcapable B-1 and B-2 bombers, have flown similar missions near Chinese positions in the South China Sea and the waters around the disputed island of Taiwan.

Never since the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 have so many US nuclear bombers been engaged in "show- of- force" operations of this sort.

Michael T Klare