Lyle Goldstein of the Washington-based think tank Defense Priorities said the shift in U.S. nuclear strategy reflected a simple calculation based on the assumptions of a worst-case scenario: war against multiple nuclear-armed adversaries at the same time.
But Goldstein, who for decades was a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, believed “there is little or no evidence to suggest a serious degree of coordination between Moscow and Beijing, let alone with Pyongyang, on the use of nuclear weapons”.
“While it is impossible to rule out some informal cooperation—and there is the quite real possibility of sharing of technology and even doctrinal principles—the actual possibility of coordinated use of nuclear weapons among these three states against the US seems extremely unlikely and even far-fetched,” he said.
The moves could be motivated in part by the war in Ukraine and growing cooperation between Russia and China, Goldstein added.
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