A Russian military intercontinental ballistic missile launcher rolls by during the 2019 Victory Day military parade celebrating the end of the Second World War in Red Square in Moscow in May 2019.
(AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
The sort of scenarios that might lead to the use of nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war would require a significant deterioration in Russian fortunes — and greater western involvement in the conflict.
MAD: launch of the Sarmat, or ‘Satan 2’ ICBM on April 20, 2022.
Russian Defence Ministry/ZUMA Wire
Despite decades of progress on nonproliferation, Russia’s new threats of nuclear strikes bring to mind that convincing countries to reduce their nuclear weapons has long been very difficult.
A U.S. Air Force jet performs a test drop of a B61-12 bomb in December 2021. That bomb can contain a nuclear warhead for use in wartime.
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Both the Russian and US arsenals boast thousands of nuclear weapons, located in various places around their own countries and, for the US, in Europe as well.
While chemical weapons are likely a greater threat than nuclear weapons, use of the latter is also not impossible.
This intercontinental ballistic missile was launched as part of Russia’s test of its strategic forces in 2020.
Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats have the world on edge, but so far, long-standing arms control measures have helped keep the situation from getting out of control.
As Russia threatens to invade Ukraine, Ukrainians wonder about the worth of a 1994 agreement signed by Russia, the US and the UK, who promised to protect the newly independent state’s sovereignty.
The two countries are on fundamentally different pages when it comes to regional security, and this is going to become more of an issue in the future.
Sister Megan Rice answers questions from members of a church group at a home in Maryville, Tennessee, in 2013.
Linda Davidson / The Washington Post via Getty Images
A Catholic historian writes about nuns who protested against nuclear weapons. Even when convicted of sabotage, they used prison time to serve fellow inmates and push for justice.
Maxal Tamor/Shutterstock (with elements supplied by Nasa)
North Korea’s test of two new missile systems have stoked fears of a nuclear confrontation in Asia. But the North Korean leader may not be as unstable as he is made out.
The federal government considers investment in nuclear energy as vital to address climate change, but some proposed technologies pose other challenges.
(Shutterstock)
Molten salt reactors are being touted as an advanced technology for the production of nuclear energy, but their implementation is fraught with challenges.