Collapse of arms control

Not since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis has the risk of a U.S.-Russian confrontation involving the use of nuclear weapons been as high as it is today,” wrote Ernest Moniz, a former energy secretary, and Sam Nunn, a former senator, in a recent article in Foreign Affairs. “Yet unlike during the Cold War, both sides seem willfully blind to the peril.”

Under the current president and his administration, we are witnessing the collapse of the entire nuclear arms treaty framework that has brought a semblance of stability to nuclear armed nations. First was President Trump’s ill-informed decision to pull the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal. This was followed recently by Trump’s decision to pull us out of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces agreement that had eliminated short-range nuclear missiles from Europe and Russia.

This is sheer madness. Simply stated, a nuclear war can never be won. The current administration represents indefensible policies that are putting the human community at a level of risk we have not seen since the height of the Cold War.

We, the American public, have to rise up and demand of our congressional leaders and this administration that we return to rational, responsible polices that focus on the resumption of active dialogue and negotiations with Russia to further reduce nuclear arsenals and stop a new nuclear arms race. This is not a partisan issue. This is something we can, and must do.

Donald D. Storey, Physicians for Social Responsibility

Spokane