While China and Russia Test Nukes, Biden Wants to Ban US Testing
While China and Russia Test Nukes, Biden Wants to Ban US Testing - CNN on Sept. 23 reported that, based on satellite imagery it had reviewed, China, Russia, and the United States all are upgrading nuclear weapons testing facilities.
While China and Russia Test Nukes, Biden Wants to Ban US Testing
Although the news outlet states “there is no evidence to suggest that Russia, the U.S., or China is preparing for an imminent nuclear test,” it is clear that the world’s prohibition on nuclear testing cannot last long.
The United States should resume nuclear tests now.
An American test would not come out of the blue. “There are really a lot of hints that we’re seeing that suggest Russia, China, and the United States might resume nuclear testing,” Jeffrey Lewis of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies told CNN.
America’s last test of a nuclear device occurred in 1992.
“As with other critical nuclear risk reduction, nonproliferation, and arms control agreements, the CTBT is under threat due to inattention, diplomatic sclerosis, and worsening relations between nuclear-armed adversaries,” writes Kimball this month in “Defending the De Facto Nuclear Test Ban.”
Kimball should also mention that the CTBT is ailing because belligerent regimes have ignored the agreement. The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency and State Department have charged that Russia violated the U.S.’s “zero-yield standard” and suggested China also did not meet all its compliance obligations.
The State Department notes that China had been “frequently blocking the flow of data” from monitoring stations to the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization.
“Learning from Russia, China is likely developing Low Yield and Very Low Yield nuclear weapons,” Richard Fisher of the International Assessment and Strategy Center told Gatestone. “The Chinese construction in Lop Nur would support the testing of such devices, to which the U.S. is not prepared to respond.”
China is already thinking of first strikes with nukes. We do not have to speculate: Chinese officials, both in and out of uniform, have throughout this century publicly threatened them. As Kendall testified, “I don’t think I’ve seen anything more disturbing in my career than the Chinese ongoing expansion of their nuclear force.”
There are other interpretations for these moves, but all of them are ominous. War, likely to be fought with nuclear weapons, looks increasingly likely.
The U.S., China, and Russia have all conducted “subcritical” tests, which the CTBT does not prohibit because they do not create nuclear detonations.
The United States signed but has not ratified the CTBT, and President Joe Biden is committed to achieving Senate ratification. Fortunately, the Senate has so far refused to ratify it.
To deter, the U.S. needs to go beyond subcritical testing and detonate a nuclear device.
Why? For one thing, China and Russia have undoubtedly been detonating small nuclear devices.
As Peter Huessy of GeoStrategic Analysis told Gatestone, “We do not have the luxury of time as we have not modernized our nuclear forces for nearly four decades and our legacy systems are nearing the end of their already extended lives.” America needs to make sure that new systems work and old warheads still function.
America’s survival depends on its nuclear arsenal. As Huessy points out, disarmament advocates think the U.S. can deter adversaries and enemies with conventional forces only. That, he points out, ignores the reality of the battlefield: “Any use of nuclear weapons in a conflict would render the combat plans of our conventional combat commanders ineffective.”
The U.S. cannot allow its arsenal, as Huessy says, to “rust to obsolescence.” Although the U.S. can learn much from computer simulations and other techniques, at some point the U.S. will have to detonate a nuclear device at least to validate three decades of assumptions.
The United States, therefore, must resume testing nuclear weapons now.