The Underlying Signs Portending the Likely Escalation of the Three-Way Nuclear Arms Race

The ongoing, 3-way nuclear arms race between the U.S., Russia and China is set to escalate further going by the signs of what's brewing behind the scenes and below the surface, as reported by W.J. Bennigan, the lead writer of the 'At the Brink' series, focused on 'the threat of nuclear weapons in an unstable world', published by the New York Times.

Also, in the latest article published in the New York Times Opinion, titled, "Where the World Plans to Test Nuclear Weapons Next", Opinion editor Kathleen Kingsbury writes about the rapid modernization of existing nuclear weapons testing facilities in the U.S., Russia and China citing commercial satellite imagery with actual images published in the article. The images of the testing facilities, first captured in 2020 and subsequently in 2023 clearly show new constructions, including, the construction of new buildings, facilities and addition of infrastructure to support nuclear testing at existing nuclear testing sites, namely, the Nevada testing site in the U.S., Russia's Novaya Zemlaya site high up in the Arctic and China's Lop Nur testing facility in China's North Western province of Xinjian.

This is the latest warning sign and the bellweather of further escalation of the dangers of nuclear weapons for mankind. The nuclear testing is completely prohibited under the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty ((CTBT) of 1996, however, the U.S. and China never ratified the treaty while Russia maneuvered its way out of it recently. With the end of Cold-War era treaties, which had been the backbone of global nuclear arms control regime, including, the INF treaty which expired in 2019, Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) in 2023 and Russia's announcement in 2023 that it will not be renewing the New START Treaty, which is set to expire in 2026, the global nuclear arms control & reduction efforts are likely to fade into the sunset and more or less set to become history. It will inevitably pave the way for further escalation of the dangerous 3-Way nuclear arms race with the onset of active, underground nuclear weapons testing just a matter of time and a potential nuclear tragedy or apocalypse simply contingent on a single misjudgment, miscalculation or a grand folly and unprecedented act of madness...

Image: A Sub-Section of the Nevada Testing Site

Image Credits: The U.S. Federal Government