Opinion | Why Donald Trump should extend nuclear arms treaty with Russia now and worry about China later
- With Trump reluctant to accept Russia’s extension offer as he focuses on including China in a new deal, the only nuclear arms control treaty left between the US and Russia is in danger of expiring, making the world a much more dangerous place
This time, it is different. The Trump administration is quietly letting the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start) die. If it does, the US will have no one to blame but itself for making the world a more dangerous place.
Beyond an arms control treaty between the US and Russia, New Start is an agreement with global ramifications. The two countries possess enough nuclear weapons to destroy not just each other but all of humanity, should they start a war.
New Start is the main safeguard that prevents that scenario from playing out. Signed in 2010, the treaty limits Russia and the US to 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads each. These limits are enforced through on-site inspections, data exchanges and stringent declaration requirements.
When either party deploys, decommissions or repositions its proverbial doomsday machines, the other party knows in advance.
This certainty creates stability. Nobody gets spooked, trigger happy or makes a catastrophic miscalculation about the other party’s intent. The odds of organised civilisation, as we know it, coming to an end are maintained at acceptable levels.