Jessica Tuchman Mathews, an American defense expert specializing in nuclear weapons, has published an article in the British media outlet in which he warns that We are at the threshold of the beginning of a new nuclear race “more dangerous than the previous one.”
The key is the New Start treatythe latest nuclear weapons agreement between the United States and Russia. He himself was signed on April 8, 2010 by the then president of the United States, Barack Obama, and the president of Russia, Dmitri Medvedev.
Subsequently, in December 2010 and January 2011, the document was ratified by both countries. Through the New Start treaty both the United States and committed to reducing their atomic arsenal by two thirds, which meant limit the arsenal of each of the parties to 1,550 nuclear warheads.
The agreement was valid for ten years, but was extended for five more years in 2021. However, the poor relationship between the two countries as a result of the war in Ukraine makes it impossible for the treaty to be renewed again.
In fact, the February 21, 2023the president of Russia, Vladimir Putinalready announced (in response to NATO’s military aid to Ukraine in the armed conflict) the suspension of Russia’s participation in the treaty.
The New Start treaty will expire in February 2026
In this way, The New Start treaty will inevitably expire in February 2026which will leave the nuclear arsenals of the United States and Russia unrestricted for the first time in half a century.
In that sense, Jessica Tuchman Mathews warns that “at a time when tensions between the great powers have reached their highest level since the Cold War, “a new nuclear arms race begins, much more dangerous than the first.”
“It will be a three-way race (now including China) and therefore much more unstable than a two-way race.”. And it will be amplified by the emergence of cyber weapons, artificial intelligence, the possible militarization of space, the ability to locate submarines in the depths of the ocean and other technological advances,” predicts the expert.
