The nuclear peril

ABOUT two weeks ago, this paper's editorial took the United States government to task over its massive nuclear rearmament program and the risk that it poses to the entire world ("The US must halt its nuclear weapons escalation," Oct. 2, 2024). While that was entirely appropriate, the US is, of course, not the world's only nuclear-armed country and, in fact, does not have the largest arsenal. That dubious honor belongs to Russia, which has a stockpile of 5,580 nuclear warheads compared to the US' 5,044. The US, however, currently has slightly more weapons deployed, about 1,770 to Russia's 1,710.

Other nuclear-armed countries besides the US and Russia are the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea. All of them are in the process of upgrading or expanding their nuclear arsenals, although to what extent is difficult to determine, as no government wants to be too candid about such a sensitive national security matter. In the case of Israel, which is believed to have about 90 nuclear warheads, it has never openly acknowledged their existence. What we know about Israel's nuclear arsenal comes from US intelligence and occasional inadvertent leading comments from Israeli government officials.