Seventy-nine years after the United States dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, most of us rarely think about nuclear weapons. The oversight is understandable, but mistaken — and dangerous.
It’s understandable because while nuclear weapons are destructive and expensive, they seem like a distant risk. There are almost always more pressing or promising issues to attend to. But it’s dangerous to ignore them because an occasionally attentive public may be the main reason we’ve avoided a nuclear war thus far. Citizen movements against nuclear weapons during the Cold War helped significantly reduce nuclear risks. As global nuclear tension spikes again, we urgently need a renewed antinuclear movement.
Some dangers are glaringly obvious. Russia’s war in Ukraine continues, and Vladimir Putin periodically warns the world that Russia maintains a substantial nuclear arsenal. He’s also ordered his military to rehearse its use of tactical nuclear weapons. At the same time Israel, another nuclear nation, is fighting a lopsided war in Gaza and threatening to do whatever it takes to stop Iran from joining the nuclear club.
Meanwhile, the hard-won international arms control regime has all but collapsed. In 2019, both the United States and Russia abandoned the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty that limited nuclear weapons in Europe. The New START agreements limiting long-range nuclear weapons are due to expire in 2026 as the United States, Russia, and China all invest in building up their strategic nuclear arsenals.
As Americans watch an ugly and divisive electoral campaign unfold, with many rights at risk, nuclear risks are rising as well.
The United States has committed to an expensive plan to upgrade its nuclear arsenal, and Donald Trump’s team advocates the resumption of nuclear testing for the first time in more than thirty years. As Americans watch an ugly and divisive electoral campaign unfold, with many rights…
La suite est à lire sur: jacobin.com
Auteur: David S. Meyer
