As Putin Suspends New START Treaty, Is There Still Hope for Nuclear Disarmament?

[Uncle Joe]

Russian President Vladmir Putin's announcement that Moscow would suspend its participation in the New START treaty threatens to end the last remaining nuclear arms control agreement between the United States and Russia. Putin made the pledge during his annual State of the Nation address on Tuesday, when he accused Western nations of provoking the conflict in Ukraine. The treaty limits the U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear weapon stockpiles and gives each country opportunities to inspect the other's nuclear sites. Russia says it will continue to respect the caps established by the treaty, but that it will no longer allow inspections. For more on the treaty and the wider challenge of nuclear proliferation, we speak with Dr. Ira Helfand, a longtime advocate for nuclear disarmament, who says the need to end nuclear weapons "transcends" all other issues between the U.S. and Russia. "If we don't get rid of nuclear weapons, they're going to be used. And if they're used, nothing else that we're doing is going to make any difference," says Helfand. He is the former president of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which received the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize, a member of the steering group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, as well as the co-founder and past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

[FarPoint]

1. Absolutely we can look forward to the Treaty...

Putin is only making abusive threats....

**** I look at it this way.....before Biden went to Ukraine this week into the war zone....The US did notify Putin/ Russia at least 4 hours before the train trip which was a 10 hour trip.....The Russians were well aware and did not act upon the opportunity....This tells me that they really do understand where the line is drawn and to not push any further or their will be massive hell to pay.... they get it!.

[Warpy]

2. His problem seems to be the other nuclear powers in Europe

who really weren't part of the treaty since their stockpiles were considered negligible at the time. He wants to know what they've got aimed at his head before he talks about disarming further. It almost sounds reasonable.

At the time, the treaty covered the US and USSR because we were the two countries armed to the teeth and capable of wiping out everything in the northern hemisphere and most in the southern.

[Chainfire]

3. I don't believe that there will not be a meaningful reduction of nuclear weapons

until the thousands that are in the stockpile are used for their intended purpose. That would slow down the arms race... We will not step away from any weapons until there are better weapons; it is who we are and what we do. The only question is do we nuke ourselves out of existence before or after the climate collapses. On a galactic scale it doesn't matter a whit. If we are too stupid to survive its our own damn fault.

[friend of a friend]

4. There never was a hope for nuclear disarmament.

Not only the US and Russia won't disarm but China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel, and every other nation which has them.