What are tactical nuclear weapons and would Russia resort to using them in Ukraine?
The Ariane 6 launcher, show during tests in 2021, will be used to launch satellites for France’s “Céleste” and “Iris” surveillance programs.
DLR/Flickr
While many countries have tested anti-satellite missiles, France has committed itself not to do so. For what reasons, and with what consequences?
This Russian short-range cruise missile, the Iskander-K, can carry nuclear warheads for several hundred miles.
Russian Defense Ministry Press Service photo via AP
Tactical nuclear weapons were designed to be used on the battlefield rather than for strategic defense, but that doesn’t mean there’s a plausible case for using them.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during the 2022 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons at the United Nations on Aug. 1, 2022.
Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images
Kwame Nkrumah and Ali Mazrui associated nuclear weapons with imperialism and racism, but proposed different approaches to address the problem they present.
People shout anti-Indian slogans during a protest against India, in Karachi, Pakistan. March 3, 2019.
EPA Images
The key question is whether North Korea does have nuclear weapons that it can readily use against the United States and its regional allies, South Korea and Japan.
With a $1 trillion modernisation programme signed off and atomic scientists deeply worried about the future, American policy on nuclear weapons is pretty much business as usual.