Copyright by James Carlson
President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands in Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018. [Leonhard Foeger, Reuters] < https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/08/rand-paul-delivers-trump-letter-to-putin-administration-in-moscow.html>
Someone has been doing a good job. For the last 15 to 20 years, the number of nuclear weapons stockpiled by Russia and the United States has dropped significantly.
Data provided by <https://ourworldindata.org/nuclear-weapons>
As the data shows, the stockpiles of nuclear weapons between these 2 countries has dropped from approximately 65,000 in the mid-1980s to approximately 10,000 today. This isn’t counting other countries as the focus here is on the two major superpowers. Not only is there parity between the U.S. and Russia, there are approximately 1,700 nuclear weapons deployed by both countries with an associated stockpile of non-deployed and retired warheads of a little more than 4,000 more. These numbers are far superior to the needs of our respective countries a generation ago (40 years earlier) but is it enough to be satisfied with?
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan sign on Dec. 8, 1987, a treaty eliminating U.S. and Soviet intermediate-range and shorter-range nuclear missiles. [AFP/Getty Images] <https://www.defensenews.com/smr/nuclear-arsenal/2018/10/24/inf-treaty-the-problem-with-the-arms-control-community/>
No is my answer to the above question. We have made great strides since the Reagan administration but we cannot rest on our shared laurels. The United States and Russia must work to de-proliferate their own stockpiles while encouraging the world around us to do the same.
Presidents Bush and Gorbachev shake hands at the end of a press conference about the peace summit in Moscow, 31 July 1991. <https://www.nps.gov/articles/endingthearmsrace-start.htm>
President George H.W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed the START II treaty in Moscow in January 1993.Associated Press/File <https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2018/02/05/america-crucial-nuclear-nonproliferation-treaty-with-russia/kNsroMWwlfrsXGLMOJrizK/story.html>
Yeltsin, Clinton, then-President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, and British Prime Minister John Major sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty during the CSCE summit in Budapest on December 5, 1994. <https://www.rferl.org/a/declassified-clinton-memo-russian-relations/32455950.html>
Clinton and Russian President Vladimir Putin exchange signed agreements on the establishment of a joint warning center for the exchange of information on missile launches on June 4, 2000. <https://www.rferl.org/a/declassified-clinton-memo-russian-relations/32455950.html>
Presidents Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush sign SORT on 24 May 2002 in Moscow <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Offensive_Reductions_Treaty>
U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sign the New START Treaty in Prague, Czech Republic, April 8, 2010. [Photo by Jason Reed/Reuters] < https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2023/08/hard-times-for-us-russian-nuclear-arms-control.html>
In this June 16, 2021, file photo President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, meet in Geneva, Switzerland, to lay the groundwork for future arms control and to reduce the risk of nuclear war. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) <https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2021/12/10/defense-bill-orders-biden-nuclear-briefing-for-congress-on-probing-allies/>
Russia, US looking into new nuclear talks June 29, 2019 <https://www.dw.com/en/putin-says-russia-us-looking-into-new-nuclear-talks/a-49416356>
Looking at the photo history of Russian leadership, we see first Mikhail Gorbachev, then Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev, and finally Vladimir Putin (mirroring the comeback election of Mr. Trump). Putin is the longest serving Russian leader since Stalin. Sadly, Putin is guilty of many war crimes against the Ukrainian people to include his threat of nuclear retaliation if they attacked the interior of Russia.
Will the new Trump administration seek to reduce the stockpiles of the few nations who have nuclear weapons? We have enough nuclear arms worldwide to destroy our planet many times over. I recommend we reduce 1% of our own stockpile per year (100 year plan) and provide not only leadership to the world without a treaty but reduce the operations and sustainment costs of the excessive numbers of nukes we now have. Mr. Trump wants to Make America Great Again. I trust that means that through his leadership the world will also be a safer place to live in.
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