theworldin.com: The possibility of a nuclear weapon being used in anger for the first time since 1945 is still, mercifully, extremely remote. But in 2017 the chances of it happening can no longer be discounted entirely. The inconvenient truth is that nuclear weapons are a greater danger now than at any time since the end of the cold war. The risks—from geopolitical miscalculation or from rogue actors, whether a state or terrorists—today exceed those of the late 20th century.
What characterised the cold-war balance of terror was the high degree of risk-aversion on both sides. After scares that included the Cuban missile crisis and false alarms that could have resulted in accidental Armageddon, the procedures for managing potential nuclear crises or accidents, including the famous hotlines between Washington and Moscow, evolved into a fairly effective safety net. Today that is no longer the case. When the cold war ended, those protocols withered because they were no longer thought necessary. However, the increasingly antagonistic relationship between Vladimir Putin’s Russia and the West has made such assumptions look premature, if not outright complacent. In recent years, Russia has been ever more brazen in lowering the bar regarding the circumstances in which it might threaten to or actually use nuclear weapons.
Categories: Bigotry, Nuclear arms, Nuclear Power, The Muslim Times