Do the nuclear powers intend to hold on to their nuclear arsenals indefinitely?

Global stockpiles have dropped from 68,000 warheads at the height of the Cold War to 20,000 today.

Global stockpiles have dropped from 68,000 warheads at the height of the Cold War to 20,000 today.

But surely there can be a balance between Second Amendment rights and rational constraints on the ability of mentally unstable people to accumulate arsenals.

Instead, they have insisted that nuclear weapons are essential for their security and continued to modernize their nuclear arsenals.

China might be willing to make a unilateral, but enforceable, commitment not to augment its nuclear arsenal, if Russia and the US reduce theirs further.

In calling upon the world s nuclear powers to preach by example and dramatically reduce their nuclear arsenals, the article was also a call for equality among nations in the nuclear domain.

South Africa eliminated its nuclear weapons and became a party to the NPT, while Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan transferred their nuclear arsenals to Russia.

But Obama also knows that if the existing nuclear states want others to accept tougher restrictions, they will have to cut back their nuclear arsenals.

But if the two countries fail to overcome their bad old habits of mutual suspicion, their remaining quite powerful nuclear arsenals will continue to serve deterrence and self deterrence.

In 2003, German, Italian, British, and American authorities confiscated nuclear equipment bound for Tripoli, leading to Libya s decision to open its weapons inventories to inspectors.

On the contrary, they continue to refine their arsenals, while countries without nuclear weapons want them, believing that the nuclear club s monopoly is a threat to the world peace.

For example, the START II Treaty of 1993 requires both countries to cut their strategic nuclear arsenals in half from the 6,000 warheads permitted under the START I agreement.

The New START agreement between the US and Russia, while a step in the right direction, will only skim the surface off the former Cold War foes bloated nuclear arsenals which account for 95 of the global total.

Nuclear stockpiles were reduced mainly for economic reasons following the Cold War, to less than 20,000 nuclear weapons worldwide (still enough to destroy humanity several times over).

According to South Korean news reports, in addition to its existing mid range Nodong missiles, North Korea has improved its Scud missiles, extending their range to reach Japan s main islands. If North Korea is, indeed, continuing to develop not only its nuclear arsenal, but also various types of ballistic missiles, in defiance of international commitments, it is truly a rogue state.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle to initiating a trilateral dialogue is Chinese resistance to formal nuclear arms control agreements, which is rooted in the memory of Cold War era nonproliferation initiatives aimed partly at preventing China from developing its own nuclear deterrent. Since then, Chinese officials have insisted that they do not belong in US Russian strategic arms talks, because the two countries nuclear arsenals dwarf theirs.

If North Korea is, indeed, continuing to develop not only its nuclear arsenal, but also various types of ballistic missiles, in defiance of international commitments, it is truly a rogue state.

Since then, Chinese officials have insisted that they do not belong in US Russian strategic arms talks, because the two countries nuclear arsenals dwarf theirs.

Convincing great powers to eliminate their nuclear arsenals might seem as politically fanciful as pushing gun control legislation through the US Congress, but on that issue, too, Obama has made clear that he is willing to try.