FLASH
Shkruar nga Pierre Haski
Why all this fuss about nuclear weapons?
The most-watched movie on Netflix right now is Kathryn Bigelow's "House of Dynamite," which depicts the moments before a nuclear attack on American soil. In this hyper-realistic thriller, the American president has just minutes to decide whether to retaliate, against whom, and with what force, before a missile destroys Chicago.
The nuclear issue has long been a fascinating feature in cinema: take for example Stanley Kubrick's 1964 classic Dr. Strangelove, with the paranoid general who launches a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union.
But after hearing the US president order the War Department to "resume nuclear weapons testing," we're no longer dealing with a movie. The president is justifying the decision by claiming that other countries are testing their own weapons and that the United States should do the same.
Just a few days ago, his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin boasted of a successful test of a cruise missile called the “Storm Bird,” which he said could carry a nuclear warhead and evade any defense system. The next day, he promoted the “Poseidon,” an underwater drone capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
However, Russia has shown no sign of using its nuclear arsenal in Ukraine, not even its short-range tactical weapons. Such an action would mark the first nuclear attack since the United States bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
This has not stopped nuclear rivalry from heating up again, not only between the US and Russia, which still have the largest arsenals in the world, but also with a China that is rapidly expanding its stockpile of nuclear warheads.
Trump is now inserting himself into this new arms race, although it is not clear what exactly he means. What does he actually mean by “testing our nuclear weapons”? If he is talking about actual nuclear explosions, the US has not conducted one since 1992. On the other hand, since 1997, an international treaty has banned all nuclear testing. North Korea alone has conducted six tests since then, facing sanctions.
However, this nuclear posture is largely psychological. Putin is using the nuclear threat to intimidate Europeans.
Trump, in his particular love-hate dynamic with Putin, is portraying himself as a warrior, while simultaneously seeking the Nobel Peace Prize and proclaiming support for nuclear disarmament. /Adapted from “Pamphlet” by “World Crunch”
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