Planet on Brink: Nuclear Threat Persists Despite USSR's Fall

The threat of all-out nuclear war, though seemingly a relic of the past, endures due to the maintenance of nuclear arsenals and mistrust among powers.

Our shared spaceship, Earth, appears to be navigating turbulent waters. Humanity, it is said, has not outgrown its infantile stage of rivalry and 'me-first' attitudes. The idea that 'we fight for the greater good, and the greater good is survival,' coined in soldierly times, seems to have faded into the complexity of the present. The specter of nuclear war, which may sound like a grandparent's anachronism to young people, remains a latent powder keg.

## Nuclear Weapons Maintenance

The collapse of the Soviet bloc and the end of the Cold War brought palpable relief. Europe's song, "The Final Countdown," seemed to herald a new era. However, nuclear weapons still exist, and their maintenance is often more economical than that of conventional defense systems. Keeping a fighter jet like the F-15 Eagle operational, with its constant need for replacement parts, can cost significantly more than the annual upkeep of a missile in a silo. A simple gasket change and a basic check are enough to ensure its readiness, a fraction of the cost of maintaining an air fleet.

## Mutual Distrust Perpetuates the Threat

Distrust among nuclear powers is an insurmountable barrier to total disarmament. The notion of one country dismantling its atomic arsenal while another secretly retains some warheads is a scenario no military is willing to accept. It's the same suspicion that prevents all political leaders from gathering in a single country, as depicted in science fiction. Furthermore, the technology to build these weapons remains. As far back as the 1980s, it was estimated that the world's atomic arsenal was sufficient to destroy the Earth multiple times over. Today, with the addition of new countries like North Korea and China to the nuclear club, that capacity has increased. The conflict in Ukraine, for instance, has roots in an old agreement where Ukraine ceded its nuclear weapons to Russia in exchange for security guarantees from NATO, a pact that, as we have seen, has not prevented escalation.