Since the end of the Cold War The world lives with the threat of nuclear fires. The world's nine nuclear powers have the capacity to end all life on Earth. in Russia and the United States The power to unleash those world-destroying weapons lies in the hands of a single man. This has been true for decades. But for a long time the public was able to safely ignore the threat. But something has changed. And people learned to fear them again.
I've been talking about nuclear weapons for ten years. And I've watched it go from niche curiosity to mainstream news over the past two years. Something has changed in 2024. The number of nuclear stories and public interest in nuclear weapons has changed.
Every time Vladimir Putin makes vague threats Waterfall of stories affect news flow– Every report to Parliament on progress in China's nuclear arsenal now received national news coverage– Three weeks ago 60 minutes It excised some nuclear news coverage from the past decade and published it as Long videos on YouTube– The New York Times has spent the past year publishing some amazing pieces. investigative journalism nuclear One of the biggest TV shows of the year is an adaptation of a video game set in Post-nuclear wasteland–
How did we get here? How did nuclear weapons go from Cold War curiosity to public concern? These weapons have been hovering over our heads like the Sword of Damocles all my life. But people safely ignore them.
Matt Korda, who tracks nuclear weapons for the Federation of American Scientists, points to TV shows like FeverythingThe New York Times' nuclear coverage and the sense of doom that pervades American life. “The mood right now is the end of the world. Apocalypse doomerism is very much on people's minds,” he said.
last year Oppenheimer Tell the story of the birth of nuclear weapons. A few months later, Amazon launched. Fallout, A nihilistic and ridiculous journey through the nuclear-damaged California wasteland. Both are very popular.
Korda also pointed to the election. Especially when it happens between Biden and Trump. “They are both old. Both sides fought a bit of a tussle over claims that the other candidate was a danger to the country in the past. There are signs of impairment on both sides,” he said.
“I have to think that that had a real impact on people realizing that one of these two people was going to be responsible for a nuclear arsenal of mass destruction and that there were serious problems with both of them in that respect,” Korda said. The election made people more aware that the nuclear systems we install are specially designed. to concentrate power in the hands of one person.”
If Biden leaves office, he will be 82. Trump will be 78 when he takes office and 82 when he leaves office. Putin is 72 now. Earlier this week, the New York Times obtained Release of survey results on presidential sole authority to launch nuclear weapons The Times asked all 530 incoming members of Congress how they felt about a capable president. End all life on earth– Answers represent the interesting part of understanding opinions.
Many people were upset that the president launched a nuclear attack in the first attack. But it's okay when the president launches a nuke in response to an attack. Democrats call Trump erratic. Republicans point to Biden's diminishing abilities. Some gave detailed and complex answers about deterrence, escalation, and sole power. Many did not, and some gave yes or no answers. But those who answer in depth do so with consideration and consideration.
It's what's on their minds.
Nuclear threats were part of the first Trump administration. It's true But the nuclear conversation now is different and worse. “What was frightening about the first Trump administration was the cavalier way in which he… Trump threatens nuclear weapons And most of it has to do with North Korea. You know, all the fire and fury that went down in 2017 and of course all the negotiations that ultimately failed with Kim Jong Un throughout his presidency,” said Arms Control Veteran Sharon Squassoni. of Congress and a research professor at George Washington University told Gizmodo
She also pointed to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and Putin's constant drumbeat of nuclear threats as fueling fear. “For the first time, we are in opposition to a country that is blatantly threatening the use of nuclear weapons,” she said.
“The other thing that happened at the same time was the collapse of all these arms control treaties,” Squazzoni said. For decades, there has been an arms control treaty between the United States and the United States. and Russia has reduced tensions After the collapse of the Soviet Union America also helps Russia. dismantle its nuclear weapons and the use of nuclear materials within nuclear power plants is finished.
During the first Trump administration America withdrew from the Reagan-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The treaty stopped both countries' only medium-range nuclear weapons. One year later, the United States pull out of the Open Skies Treaty, which allows rival countries to openly monitor each other to prevent misunderstandings. In 2023, Russia withdrew from the treaty banning nuclear weapons testing.
The only remaining nuclear weapons control treaty between the United States and Russia is the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. (New Start) This Obama-era agreement limits the number of nuclear warheads the two countries can use. It expires in 2026 unless both parties agree to renew it. But enforcement would require both sides to allow rivals to inspect nuclear weapons sites. Putin has already said he will not allow the treaty to be enforced. And it is likely that the treaty will end.
Add to that the fact that America, Russia and China are all building up their nuclear arsenals. China is digging holes in the desert to fuel new intercontinental ballistic missiles. America is modernizing its forces. And it is preparing to spend billions of dollars building its own silos and ICBMs. Russia is testing new nuclear cruise missiles and recently Launching a new format or medium-range missile strikes in Ukraine in November
“We are in a new nuclear arms race. This is not just rhetoric,” Joseph Cirincione, a former congressional staffer turned nuclear proliferation watchdog, told Gizmodo. “There are multi-billion dollar programs underway in almost every one of the nine nuclear weapons countries. Most prominently in the United States, Russia, and China.”
According to Cirincione, the United States spends $70 billion a year on new nuclear weapons and another $30 billion on missile defense systems. That money has a tangible impact on the community in which it is spent. Nuclear weapons distort the reality of existing locations.
To build a new Sentinel-class ICBM, the U.S. will have to dig huge new silos and build massive underground structures in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, and North Dakota. Various parts of the project will touch 23 different states. In their place they built a silo. Contractor will build Create a temporary city To accommodate the influx of workers, General Dynamics, the contractor working on the new nuclear submarine, visit school To teach students about working in the nuclear industry and guide them about building future submarines.
All of this affects public consciousness. What was once an ancient weapon from a bygone era has returned with a vengeance. It is not an abstract weapon of war. But it is an important part of American society. It is part of the post-World War II mythology that we tell ourselves. And what some say keeps us safe from bigger and worse wars.
“I think nuclear weapons still maintain fear among Americans. This is partly because the main story taught about nuclear weapons is that we use them to end wars. The second story teaches about nuclear weapons that the United States uses. And Russia pointed out enough to cause the world to fall apart forever. This means that whenever tensions flare up between the two states with the largest arsenals, It's only a short walk to assume that nuclear oblivion is imminent, Kelsey Atherton, editor-in-chief of the International Policy Center, told me.
“On the one hand, Americans understand that nuclear is what ends major wars. and forget everything about them and popular news reports “Even television (particularly on television) is very scary to put nuclear in context,” he said. “Which means that when something alarming happens, like the use of an IRBM against Ukraine, it is filtered through the most superficial understanding of Nuclear Risk Along with the meltdown video.”
This will speed it up. Putin isn't going anywhere. China has no reason to delay its nuclear ambitions. And President Trump and the GOP want more nukes, quite a bit. We are in a new nuclear age. This is an era in which the fear of nuclear hellfire oblivion is more likely than at any time since the 1980s.
We can try to understand. We can lobby our leaders to stop. We can watch TV shows and movies that help us deal with our anxiety. What we can't do is ignore it.