America and Nuclear Security

After the Trump-era blackout on the actual figure and data of nuclear weapons, the United States administration recently revealed the number of nuclear warheads in its nuclear arsenal for the first time in four years.

 In this regard, the US military emphasized on Sep. 30, 2020, that approximately 3,750 active and inactive nuclear warheads, down by 55 from a year earlier. This official data comes in the context of the resumptions of their dialogue and within the framework of existing mutual programs, conventions, and agreements on arms control and non-proliferation.

 Last year, Trump pulled the United States from the Iran nuclear deal, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty with Russia, and also withdrew from another significant agreement with Moscow, the so-called The New Start Treaty.

 Since Biden ascended the throne of the Wight House as the president of the US and took charge in January, his democratic administration hastened to return to some international agreements and world entities, including the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization, as well as conducting several effective negotiations in a bid to reach an agreement on the nuclear deal.

 Lately, President Biden's administration has underscored that the US has a national security imperative and a moral responsibility to reduce and eventually combat the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction pandemic and eliminate the covid 19 by collaborating alongside WHO's in vaccinating many people across the world.

According to a statement released by the State Department, Biden's administration said: "Increasing the transparency of states' nuclear stockpiles is important to non-proliferation and disarmament efforts."

Also in this regard, Trump revealed at that time that he wanted a new deal that includes China, which only has a fraction of the warheads that the United States and Russia have. However, the new president of the US proposed a five-year extension to New Start, which Russian President Vladimir Putin quickly agreed to.

 A number of high-ranked Russian and US diplomats and politicians held talks behind closed doors in Geneva to begin discussions on New Start and also controls on conventional weapons. After their meeting, the Americans called the talks "productive." However, both sides revealed the mere fact of holding the talks was positive.

According to recent statistics released in January 2021 by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which actually includes retired warheads and is also not counted in the State Department's numbers: The United States had 5,550 warheads, compared to 6,255 in Russia, 350 in China, 225 in Britain, and 290 in France.

In the same context, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea together have around 460 nuclear warheads, according to the latest institute report.

In my point of view and my deep perspective, despite Biden's apparent assertiveness and animosity towards Russia's government in response to Moscow's "harmful" activities, he indeed has no choice but to find a common ground and display flexibility in taking up issues of international security, especially with regard to nuclear security.

Contributed by Ahmad Emam