In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia is suspending the New START (New Strategic Arms) nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and Russia.
In his article “Something is Missing from Americans’ Greatest Fears”, Serge Schmemann states “Putin is engaging in saber rattling to convince his own people that the war against Ukraine is a life or death struggle of the superpowers.”
Many Americans probably didn’t take notice of this change in arms control policy. Some might be surprised that there are any arms control pacts between our country and Russia. More than 30 years after the end of the Cold War, the threat of nuclear obliteration simply doesn’t rank among Americans’ greatest fears. Global terror reigned supreme after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and now Americans are afraid of cyberwarfare.
However, we must face the reality. The sharply reduced Russian and American nuclear arsenals (at least for now) are still enough to wipe out much of the world, and China is pushing hard to become the third nuclear superpower. At least six other countries, including North Korea, Britain, France, Israel, India, and Pakistan, have nuclear weapons. Schememann makes the point about today’s nuclear politics: “perversely, the complexity of today’s world has even generated something akin to nostalgia for a time when there were only two superpowers to deal with and stability depended on mutually assured destruction.”
What the world is seeing now is a multi-polar world where countries are members of different blocks and work toward their own interests in those blocks. The United States is a part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Quadrilateral Security Dialog. China and Russia are in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization with Iran. Turkey is an observing member of the SCO and a NATO member as well.
Arms control talks between Russia and the United States might not be likely at this time, but it must be a priority. Upon renewal of New START in 2021, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken stated that “an unconstrained nuclear competition would endanger us all.”
After Putin and his ministry announced his suspension of the treaty, he stated that “The decision to suspend participation in New START can be reversed. To do this, Washington must show the political will and make good-faith efforts for general de-escalation,” the foreign ministry said.
“We are convinced that the potential of the treaty in terms of its contribution to strengthening international security and strategic stability is far from exhausted.”
Putin emphasized in his speech that Russia was only suspending, not terminating, its participation in the treaty.
Dialogue between Russia and the United States on a successor treaty to New START would be a positive development. Maybe even a step toward an easing of tensions in the new Cold War.
