... decision to use the atomic bomb.” White House Press Secretary Josh Ernest also
said
: “The President will pay a historic visit to Hiroshima, together with Prime Minister Abe to underline his commitment to a peaceful and safe world, free of nuclear weapons.”
The US administration wanted this visit to demonstrate Barack Obama’s commitment to a nuclear-free world for which he won the Nobel Prize in 2009.
Above all, the US administration wanted this visit to demonstrate Barack ...
... great powers. The end of World War II ushered in the nuclear era. Ever since that time scholars have been ceaselessly debating two problems
[1]
. First: Is a direct military showdown between the nuclear powers possible? And if so, will they dare use nuclear weapons? Second: Can nuclear war be interpreted according to the Clausewitz formula whereby “war is the continuation of politics by other means”?
There is also a third view point that I find appealing: the emergence of nuclear weapons ...
Although the East-West confrontation in Europe appears to have subsided 25 years ago, nuclear weapons would not leave the region’s agenda for long. Special attention has traditionally been given to U.S. missiles, while the British and French arsenals do match the Chinese potential but are undeservedly neglected. Remember that European ...
... conditions, strategic nuclear forces appear to be the only Beijing’s tool to deter the US and its allies, and, perhaps, to maintain its global status in the future.
Hidden power or concealed impotence?
Of the five countries that officially possess nuclear weapons under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, China is the only one not to provide any information on its armed forces, including their nuclear component
[1]
.
Beijing has repeatedly asserted that the Chinese nuclear forces are small in ...
... of a nuclear missile and it would be naive to blissfully rely on Pyongyang’s reluctance to use it. Moreover, North Korea has repeatedly stressed that if the United States “does not abandon its hostile policy,” it will not eliminate nuclear weapons “even if the sky falls to the ground.”
[1]
It’s difficult to understand why the regime intensified diplomatic efforts to restore its relations with China, South Korea and countries in Southeast Asia in late 2015.
These ...
... influence of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) fund make the report interesting not only for nuclear arms control experts, but also for a wider circle of readers who care about the issues of security in the Euro-Atlantic region and the world.
The Use of Nuclear Weapons is Real, but How Real?
The report is based on a survey of leading researchers at U.S., British, German and Russian think tanks. The authors cite differing and sometimes opposite assessments made by the Russian and Western sides. But, as ...
... host this meeting with the Luxembourg Forum.
There is plenty to discuss and many challenges to address:
There is a corrosive lack of trust undermining cooperation between our U.S. and Russia leaders and nations.
Harsh, irresponsible rhetoric regarding nuclear weapons is being used.
There is no agreed process or an agenda for next steps on nuclear arms control and risk reduction.
Arms control experts in both the U.S. and Russia are disappearing as they retire and leave the scene. And with them go ...
I felt a sense of deja vu reading Troitskiy’s polemical
response
. The very title of the article “Why Nuclear Weapons Are Strategically Useless?” gives rise to troubling associations. More than once in history has a particular kind of weapon been declared “strategically useless.” In the early twentieth century, French military commanders ...
... his comments and I would like to say that I go along with most of his arguments. They are backed up by known facts and references to a large body of sources and literature. However, these arguments do not put into question the key point of my essay
.
Nuclear Weapons and Survival States
First and foremost, my argument is that possessing nuclear weapons does not enable a state to solve the main and often vital problems of its own security. Second, nuclear weapons do not ensure “international stability” ...
M. Troitsky’s
article
, published, symbolically, on the tragic anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, touches upon an intriguing and highly relevant issue, namely, the possibility of nuclear disarmament. The author argues that fewer nuclear weapons would make the world safer. He makes some interesting remarks to bolster his argument, but I find it hard to agree with some of them.
Why Do We Need Nuclear Weapons?
Troitsky asks an interesting question: “Is there a cause-and-effect ...
