Joe Biden ready to use nuclear weapons first in ‘extreme circumstances’

telegraph.co.uk: Joe Biden is prepared to use nuclear weapons first in “extreme circumstances” after he abandoned plans to drastically water down US policy.

The US president’s U-turn came after pressure from allies and the Pentagon, amid fears that Vladimir Putin may resort to deploying weapons of mass destruction in the coming months.

The US currently allows itself to use nuclear weapons to “defend the vital interests of the United States, its allies and partners”, as well as in response to “significant non-nuclear strategic attacks”.

However, for years Mr Biden has sought to rein that back, arguing that the “sole purpose” of the US nuclear arsenal should be as a deterrent only against a nuclear attack.

Stating his position in 2017, the president said: “The sole purpose of our nuclear arsenal is to deter and, if necessary, retaliate, for a nuclear attack against the United States and its allies.”

Mr Biden included his desire to minimise the role of nuclear weapons in his 2020 presidential campaign.

He was considering announcing the move earlier this year but the decision was delayed amid the Russian build-up on the Ukraine border, The Telegraph understands.

“In the current situation, it’s very challenging to make the case for ‘sole purpose’,” said an arms control expert who consulted with Mr Biden’s nuclear policy officials.

“The optics are extremely bad when Russia is being as threatening as it is. You don’t want to look weak. It was on the president’s desk awaiting his decision, then Ukraine happened.

“Pre-Ukraine, there was a chance the president would have gone ahead and made a ‘sole purpose’ declaration. He wanted to do that, but he didn’t have a lot of support in the Pentagon.”

Mr Biden’s decision came as he was under pressure to set a “red line” for how to respond to any use of chemical weapons by Putin in Ukraine.

Speaking in Brussels on Thursday, he said that the West would respond “in kind”, but declined to say whether it would lead to military intervention.

Responding to Russian nuclear threat

In 2020, Russia published a doctrine outlining its possible use of nuclear weapons.

It detailed four justifications: a ballistic missile attack against Russia or an ally, use of a nuclear weapon by an enemy, an attack on a Russian nuclear weapons site, or any attack threatening the existence of Russia.

Last month, Putin ordered his nuclear forces to be put on high alert.

As president, Mr Biden has the only authority to launch the US’s nuclear weapons. His new policy will say that the “fundamental role” of America’s nuclear weapons is to deter nuclear attacks, US officials told The Wall Street Journal.

However, that will still allow them to be used in “extreme circumstances” as a deterrent against chemical, biological, massive conventional and even potentially cyber attacks, officials told the newspaper.

Allies in Europe had been concerned that Mr Biden’s original plan would weaken deterrence against a massive conventional, or chemical and biological, attack by Russia on Nato.

Japan feared that the US explicitly limiting itself to retaliation against a nuclear strike could one day leave it open to an overwhelming conventional attack by China.

Supporters of Mr Biden’s original, more limited “sole purpose” campaign pledge will be disappointed.

“With ‘sole purpose’, you’re still safe. You’re still saying ‘If you want to nuke, us you’re going to die’. That’s the essence of deterrence,” said one member of the nuclear policy community who backed it.

“Even Putin would know if he does one or two nukes in Ukraine, he can’t get away with it.”

Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has delayed the completion of Mr Biden’s overall defence strategy, of which the nuclear review is part.

The defence strategy was determined to be too focused on China, and is being amended to acknowledge the increased Russian threat.

‘Ukraine invasion is Tiananmen Square, squared’

As he travelled to within 50 miles of Ukraine’s border on Friday, the US president compared Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to China’s massacre of the Tiananmen Square protesters in 1989.

He described the devastation being unleashed on Ukraine as “like something out of a science fiction movie”.

However, the US president added: “The Ukrainian people have a lot of backbone. They have a lot of guts.”

He gave the example of a 30-year-old woman standing in front of a tank with a rifle, which recalled the famous “Tank Man” photo, of a man standing defiantly before tanks after the crushing protests in Tiananmen Square.

“This is Tiananmen Square, squared,” Mr Biden said.

Earlier on Friday, he had addressed US troops in the Polish city of Rzeszow, about 50 miles from the Ukraine border.

Speaking to the soldiers, he said: “You’re in the midst of a fight between democracies and autocrats. What you’re doing is consequential, really consequential.”

The president said he was “disappointed” not to be able to see the humanitarian crisis caused by the conflict “first hand”.

“They will not let me, understandably I guess, cross the border and take a look at what’s going on in Ukraine,” he said.

More than 3.7 million Ukrainians have fled the country, roughly half to Poland.

Andrzej Duda, the Polish president, joined Mr Biden for his event and thanked him for his support.

He said that the Poles see the Ukrainians they are receiving as their “guests”, adding: “This is the name we want to apply to them. We do not want to call them refugees. They are our guests, our brothers, our neighbours from Ukraine, who today are in a very difficult situation.”

Mr Biden is due to wrap up his European visit on Saturday with a “major address” from Poland, according to Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser.

He will meet with Ukrainian refugees and American humanitarian groups in Warsaw before delivering an address “that will speak to the stakes of this moment”, Mr Sullivan added.

“He’ll also talk about the context and history of this conflict and where he sees it going from here.”