President-elect Donald Trump is right to insist the United States is ready for an arms race if Russian President Vladimir Putin expands his country's nuclear capabilities, Jed Babbin, former undersecretary of defense to President George H.W. Bush, tells Newsmax TV.
But Babbin says he doubts Russia has the economic chops to expand its nuclear arsenal.
"Pretty much at the same time Mr. Trump said in one of his tweets we need to strengthen and increase our nuclear weapons force … Vladimir Putin said we're going to be doing the same thing," Babbin said Tuesday on Newsmax TV's "America Talks Live."
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"Trump just basically said you know if they want an arm's race, let's have an arm's race. We'll beat them at every turn. It's kind of boyish bravado there but he's right.
"The real point here is Putin is playing from a very weak hand, his economy is basically in the junker."
Babbin, a senior fellow for the London Center of Policy Research, noted Russia lost about 40 percent of its gross domestic product between 2013 and 2015.
"It was supposed to go down about another 2 percent last year. All of those things indicate to me that Putin can't afford an arms race," he said.
Babbin is the co-author of "The BDS War Against Israel: The Orwellian Campaign to Destroy Israel Through the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions," written with Herbert London and published by the London Center for Policy Research.
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