Russia’s Small Nukes Are a Big Problem
1st February 2022
If asked, most Americans probably believe the U.S. and Russia are pretty evenly matched on nuclear weapons due to arms control treaties such as the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty—aka New START.
That’s not exactly correct.
Indeed, with Russia threatening a large-scale invasion of Ukraine at any moment, now is a good time to take note of a little-spoken-of, but glaring, imbalance in our nuclear arsenals—and how it could affect our interests in Europe.
While the U.S. and Russia have a similar number of deployed strategic (i.e., high-yield) nuclear weapons as limited under New START, Russia has a 10:1 advantage over us in non-strategic (i.e., low-yield) nuclear weapons—aka tactical or battlefield nukes.
Yes, you read that right: A 10:1 advantage.
February 1st, 2022 at 19:20
The bad news is they have more nukes. The good news is that using nukes in your own backyard is very much like tossing hand grenades while you’re in a closet.
February 2nd, 2022 at 04:20
And it’s especially problematical using them against the only country that has actually used them in war.