New Nuclear Arms Race – America’s Fault?

Video Above: A Conversation with Peter Huessy, Senior Warrior Maven Nuclear Weapons Analyst

By Peter Huessy, President of Geo-Strategic Analysis, Potomac, Maryland and Warrior Maven, Nuclear Weapons, Senior Analyst 

On Monday June 13, 2022, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute warned that since disarmament appears to be a thing of the past, as most nuclear powers particularly China are modernizing their nuclear weapons, a new and dangerous arms race is starting.

Nuclear Weapons

And according to some SIPRI and some disarmament advocates, its America’s fault.

For example, one well known critic of US nuclear modernization postulates China is probably expanding its arsenal not due to any hostile intent, but in reaction to United States capability to strike China first and the construction of a missile defense possibly designed to protect the US from a subsequent retaliatory Chinese strike.

Now if US policy underpins the new arms racing, one would assume the administrations Nuclear Posture Review, would remedy things. But while calling for a diminution of nuclear weapons in US strategy, the review largely followed the 2010 nuclear modernization plan of replacing our ancient legacy Triad of bombers and cruise missiles, land-based ICBMs and submarines and their associated D-5 missiles, while upgrading our nuclear command and control and our warhead infrastructure.

Thus it is understandable that when the NPR was presented to Congress earlier this year, the disarmament community complained the administration had jettisoned its previous commitments or favorable views toward disarmament, including failing to adopt such strategies as no first use of nuclear weapons, eliminating ICBMs and unilaterally reducing the US nuclear force by at least one-third.