Quantitatively, the North Korean arsenal of deployed nuclear delivery systems and warheads remains smaller than that of any other nuclear state. Qualitatively, matters are a bit more nuanced.
The current situation in Ukraine is a painful reminder that nuclear weapons are to global security what fossil fuels are to a green economy: a costly legacy of past generations thwarting justice and sustainability efforts in the long-term.
President Obama and Vice President Biden wanted to ensure that we had the support of top-level leaders and former leaders on both sides of the aisle, and so they picked out who would be extremely influential and one of them was Colin Powell.
Carnegie nuclear policy senior fellow Ankit Panda discusses recent nuclear saber-rattling by Russia and North Korea and whether the risk of nuclear conflict is growing.
The U.S. and Chinese governments, for the foreseeable future, will have the resources to keep each other’s society vulnerable to nuclear mass destruction.
Armageddon, or even a smaller nuclear war, would certainly not serve the interests of the Ukrainian population that NATO is trying to defend—or the world more broadly. A negotiated cease-fire before nuclear use started would be preferable for all parties.
A Russian attack would terrorize the Ukrainian population and shatter a seven-decade-old international taboo, all while bringing few benefits on the battlefield.
If Russia’s March 2014 annexation of Crimea serves as its nuclear blueprint, Russia can be anticipated to interrupt and terminate the IAEA’s ongoing and routine implementation of nuclear safeguards in any annexed Ukrainian territory.
Which brings us to military deterrence. Washington has made it clear that a military response is on the table. Options may range from kinetic attacks, perhaps on Russian targets in Ukraine, perhaps on Russian military sites responsible for the attack.
The risk of "Armageddon" is the highest it has been since the early 1960s, President Joe Biden said Thursday night as Russian losses in Ukraine prompt Russian officials to discuss the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons. Biden went further in his risk assessment than other U.S. officials.