Foreign Policy, Nuclear Arms, and the Dangers Ahead
By Maggie Hannick
Since World War II, nuclear weaponry has played a role in the life of our nation and the world as a whole. This fact has led to a number of attempts to control the use of these deadly weapons.
Recently, President Donald Trump has changed the nuclear culture by upsetting the power balance between nation-states. A case in point would be Trump’s 2019 Nuclear Posture Review which called for increasing the country’s nuclear arsenal and lowering the threshold when nuclear weapons can be used – actions that provoke counter-actions with our geopolitical foes. In a power-balance move, President Vladimir Putin has made it a point to create new nuclear weapons. However, there is a disturbance in the body politic. Last year, an opinion poll found that around 60 percent of Americans do not support or trust Trump to be responsible and make appropriate decisions with nuclear arms.
In October 2018, Trump called for the United States to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty for Russian violations, the threat eventually became a reality. President Trump also withdrew from the President Barack Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Treaty with Iran and has said he might let the U.S.-Russian New START Treaty (also an Obama Treaty) expire. Nuclear-armed North Korea has also disturbed the world’s power-balance by creating fear with its irrational behavior. The United States became more involved after the 2018 summit in Singapore between Trump and Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea. While some agreement ensued, the United States has not been able to reach a solid nuclear arms control plan for the future.
The 2017 Nuclear Ban Treaty, supported by two-thirds of the United Nations members, represented an attempt by the international community to put controls on nuclear arms. The nine states that are armed with nuclear weapons do not support the treaty. This caused many problems and fears, and also created extreme uncertainty for the world and its governments – questioning if there will be a successful end to this race.
The Nuclear Ban Treaty is very important in today’s foreign policy, yet those with nuclear weapons are not willing to support it, which leaves the world in a standstill, risking potential nuclear disaster. In importance, some are fearful of the connections and similarities to the Cold War, yet nuclear arms of the 21st century seems to be escalating quickly with compromise not in the prospect.
While the world is fracturing with tensions along geo-political lines, there are some things that are in the interest of all political formations – be they nation-states or city-states – and increase security worldwide. The fallout from a nuclear war would be devastating regardless of the country you live in or the views you hold on this or that issue. Hopefully, the world will be able to unite around the simple concept for the sake of our future as a civilization.
(Information found in The Japan Times article “Nuclear Arms: A Year of Living Dangerously” by Ramesh Thakur)
Maggie Hannick is a student at St. Joseph’s Academy in St. Louis. She’s an intern with the Peace Economy Project.
