Federation of American Scientists revealed that U.S. Navy deployed a submarine equipped with a low-yield nuclear warhead from Kings Bay Submarine Base in Georgia in late 2019. Trident warhead is a new nuclear weapon and it carries one third of explosive power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
The International campaign to abolish nuclear weapons already called the news «an alarming incident rising the risk of a nuclear war». However, it received little coverage. William Artkin, a journalist and writer, focusing on the issue of military and nuclear policy, says that this is the first incident of a new nuclear weapon deployment. This warhead is usable not only against China and Russia, but also against North Korea and Iran. The low yield of this weapon is, in fact, not do low. America possesses warhead even smaller than this one – only 5 to 6 kilotons. One such strike will totally destroy twenty city blocks with radiation coming from this place for many years to come. This is the smallest charge that exists in strategic nuclear warheads. The real reason for Trident warhead deployment is that American nuclear planners realized that the U.S. doesn’t have a quick response for Russia and other adversaries quick meaning that it can reach the target within 30 minutes.
Trident deployment may be denounced by Russia, but it will not affect Russian-American situation because Russia already has two thousand low-yield warheads opposite Europe. One of the justifications for the deployment of Trident warhead was numerical advantage of Russia over Europe. The U.S. – Russia situation is certainly tense, but Trident warhead is about showing Iran and North Korea our readiness for a preemptive strike. Such weapon in the hand of President Donald Trump is believed to be even more dangerous. U.S. – American situation is in deep crisis while Iran has no limits to develop and produce nuclear weapons. The U.S. have increased their presence in the Persian Gulf and in case Donald Trump is re-elected, Iran will become the main strategy of the U.S. to develop the defense industry.
Doomsday Clock hands have moved twentry minutes closer to midnight – the beginning of a nuclear war – indicating that there are only 100 seconds left. Never before since the moment they were created in 1947 has the world been so close to a catastrophe. However, what’s more important than the Doomsday Clock is the lack of public activism regarding nuclear weapons. Russia and the U.S. are spending billions of dollars on the modernization of nuclear weapons while the U.S. are in the middle of a crisis with North Korea and Iran. However, we do not see any public movements that would say “no” to a nuclear war.
William Artkin started writing about nuclear weapons in 1981 when Ronal Reagan was president. Back then there was a great movement against nuclear arms. There were marches with tens of thousands of people in Europe, in the U.S. and in the whole world. Today, we see nothing like that. However, William Artkin thinks that it’s important to involve in that fight more and more people around the world.