Putin's announcement yesterday that Russia will suspend its participation in the last remaining nuclear weapons agreement with the US has been deemed "completely reckless" by a nuclear arms expert, though not entirely surprising.
The declaration is yet another instance of Russia reminding the world of its fearful capability, to which it has alluded in several menacing proclamations in the year since its invasion of Ukraine. Save for a five-year period after the US withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002, Russia has had more nuclear arms than any other nation since the late 70s.
And though we arguably live in the most perilous era humanity has ever known, the success of non-proliferation treaties should not be overlooked. Despite Russia and the US dominating the global share of nuclear warheads (their collective arsenals comprise over 90% of nukes worldwide), the total number of these civilisation-ending bombs has fallen hugely since the peak in 1985 – today's nuclear stockpile is less than one fifth what it was then.
Yet the importance of this significant decrease brings little solace in light of the power that just one bomb has to obliterate a region. And though Belgium is not a nuclear capacity, it serves as a host for US warheads, making it a certain target, were tensions ever to reach that point.
More concerning is the stepping-up of rhetoric on both sides, both Biden and Putin are adamant in their opposition. And with EU and NATO stepping up their support for Ukraine, the stakes couldn't get much higher.
In an interview with The Brussels Times last week, the President of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists spoke about their infamous Doomsday Clock now being closer to midnight than at any point in history. Speaking of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, the Bulletin's then-editor wrote whilst flying: 'I don't know if this is ever going to be published, and I don't know if there's going to be anything for this plane to land on.'
Not a rash piece of sensationalism, this was the fear of an expert who knew better than almost anyone how great the risk was. Despite having fewer nuclear arms today, are we closer than ever to the point of no return?
Let @Orlando_tbt know.
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