Is new strategy enough?

The United States is attaining the moral high ground with its new nuclear arms strategy, announced on Tuesday. Many have called US President Barack Obama's new policy of reducing the role of nuclear arms in the national security strategy a bold shift from his predecessors.

While it does indicate that the Obama administration is pushing for a world free of nuclear arms, the new policy - known as the Nuclear Posture Review - is still, more or less, only significant in its symbolism. To the disappointment of many arms control advocates, the US stops short of promising that it would never be the first to use nuclear weapons.

The pledge that the US will not use or threaten to use nuclear arms against nations without the destructive weapons is also restrictive. Moreover, the new policy has done little to reduce the US' reliance on nuclear weapons as a deterrent.