US Tells Russia Britain's Nuclear Secrets

How many more ways can this administration screw this country's traditional friends and allies? Alas, imagination knows no bounds in this area:

The US secretly agreed to give the Russians sensitive information on Britain’s nuclear deterrent to persuade them to sign a key treaty, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

Information about every Trident missile the US supplies to Britain will be given to Russia as part of an arms control deal signed by President Barack Obama next week.

Does Obama Dishonor the UK on Purpose?

Defence analysts claim the agreement risks undermining Britain’s policy of refusing to confirm the exact size of its nuclear arsenal.

The fact that the Americans used British nuclear secrets as a bargaining chip also sheds new light on the so-called “special relationship”, which is shown often to be a one-sided affair by US diplomatic communications obtained by the WikiLeaks website.

Details of the behind-the-scenes talks are contained in more than 1,400 US embassy cables published to date by the Telegraph, including almost 800 sent from the London Embassy, which are published online today.

Sadly, we asked Great Britain for permission to divulge this information, Britain refused, yet we used an underhanded method of supplying information anyway:

Although the treaty was not supposed to have any impact on Britain, the leaked cables show that Russia used the talks to demand more information about the UK’s Trident missiles, which are manufactured and maintained in the US.

Washington lobbied London in 2009 for permission to supply Moscow with detailed data about the performance of UK missiles. The UK refused, but the US agreed to hand over the serial numbers of Trident missiles it transfers to Britain.

Professor Malcolm Chalmers said: “This appears to be significant because while the UK has announced how many missiles it possesses, there has been no way for the Russians to verify this. Over time, the unique identifiers will provide them with another data point to gauge the size of the British arsenal.”

Duncan Lennox, editor of Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems, said: “They want to find out whether Britain has more missiles than we say we have, and having the unique identifiers might help them.”

This is positively shameful. Great Britain has been a loyal ally for many generations and the Obama administration has given them the back of its hand at every opportunity. We're treating them a lack of respect that even our foes are not afforded by this president.

As an American, I'm increasingly embarrassed by the arrogant and obtuse actions of President Obama, particularly in the area of foreign policy.  This particular incident is a breach of confidence and an abject sell-out of one of our dearest friends.  One must question whether this continued shabby treatment of the UK is calculated on the part of the President and his administration.  If that's the case, and you consider yourself an ally of the United States, you would be advised to watch you back for the foreseeable future.