End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity” ~llaw
Feb 11, 2025
US President Donald Trump (2L) and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin wait ahead a meeting in Helsinki, on July 16, 2018. (Photo credit ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/AFP via Getty Images)
LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD NEWS TODAY with the RISKS and CONSEQUENCES of TOMORROW
This “Breaking Defense” article is another look at Trump and his “Iron Dome for America” (or more of the same) from yesterday’s Post as well as my personal opinion that it won’t work beyond the ridiculous “deterrence” hope of “eternal delay” by keeping up with the Jones’s, which cannot go on forever. And we have proven over and over again that pacts, agreements, etc., aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.
The strictly defensive “Iron Dome for America” is far too late to avoid the possibility of avoiding nuclear war from Russia or any other country and too expensive — I have seen estimates of $3 trillion — as a “nuclear deterrence” defense effort and may even prompt our enemies to attack us sooner rather than later while we are still arguing back and forth whether to build the system, but it would take unavailable years to build anyway.
My question, then, is why are we even talking about this potential “white elephant” as some kind of immediate savior for America when in reality it may never be built and may prove to more likely work as an early invitation to nuclear armed countries to no longer delay an all-out nuclear war.
So, as I see it, there is no solution to the potential of a global nuclear war other than some kind of unknown and unlikely intervention or a change of heart by the very nature of collective humanity about our present depravity of ethnic borders, racial and religious hatred, social and financial inequality, and world peace instead of war — none of which which, in all probably, is likely to happen . ~llaw
Twin political paths President Trump can take to ensure nuclear deterrence
“The fundamental point, though, at least in the short term, would be for Trump to send a political message to Russia via allied consultations that American security is indivisible from NATO,” writes Kyle Balzer of AEI in this op-ed.
By Kyle Balzeron February 11, 2025 at 10:20 AM
US President Donald Trump (2L) and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin wait ahead a meeting in Helsinki, on July 16, 2018. (Photo credit ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/AFP via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump enters office at a possible inflection point in the ongoing nuclear competition with China and Russia. Though it is a moment of great peril for the US nuclear modernization program, it is also one of great opportunity — should Trump choose to seize it.
Both China and Russia have exploited America’s glacial effort to modernize its aging nuclear arsenal and atrophied defense-industrial base by rapidly expanding their own. Beijing has grown the world’s largest fleet of nuclear-capable land-based missile launchers. And Moscow has locked in a glaring theater nuclear advantage in Europe that helped constrain former President Joe Biden’s support for Ukraine’s defense against Russia. Compounding these developments is the fact that Washington, due to its deficient defense-industrial capacity, cannot reverse these trends in the near term by simply accelerating its troubled nuclear modernization program.
And yet, despite the long-term structural problems with nuclear modernization, Trump still has readily available options at his disposal. Two near-term options, in particular, stand out. Both are political in nature, dealing with the “software” of nuclear alliances and the mechanics of US domestic leadership. And both would generate immediate deterrence payoffs.
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/OEXZAYGx1xc?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0
First, Trump should move quickly to initiate political consultations within NATO to integrate Poland, in some form, into the alliance’s nuclear mission. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the deployment of Russian short-range nuclear weapons in Belarus, Warsaw has expressed interest in joining NATO’s nuclear-sharing program — an arrangement in which forward-stationed gravity bombs remain in US custody in peacetime, but are carried by allied aircraft during crises and wartime.
Poland’s fervor to host US nuclear weapons is undoubtedly a reflection of NATO’s failure to adjust to two transformations in the post-Cold War European security environment: the migration of the alliance’s center of gravity from Germany to Poland, and Moscow’s massive theater nuclear buildup that dwarfs the hundred or so American gravity bombs based in countries far from Russia’s border, like Germany.
Integrating Poland into NATO’s nuclear-sharing system would address NATO’s changing geography and Warsaw’s growing fear of Russia’s theater buildup. Washington would not necessarily have to station gravity bombs in Poland, where they would be more vulnerable to preemptive attack. Polish pilots, after all, could always fly dual-capable aircraft based in Germany, as both nation’s pilots will soon be trained on the F-35A.
A larger wrinkle would be to bring Finland into the nuclear fold and field weapons in both Poland and Finland — whether permanently or only for temporary rotations. This alternative might appeal to Helsinki, which has expressed a nascent interest in revising its long-held prohibition of nuclear weapons transiting its territory. It would mean Poland was not the only nuclear-armed NATO member along Russia’s border. And it would have the bonus effect of creating a nuclearized perimeter on Russia’s frontier that would greatly complicate Kremlin planning.
Accurate sensors are critical for armor units under fire
Maneuver formations face multifaceted threats that include kinetic force-on-force and non-kinetic effects such as electronic warfare.
From Breaking Defense
Of course, one can never know what, exactly, will deter Moscow. But Russia has a historic tendency to pick on the “little guy” — and a nuclear-capable NATO frontline is no small matter. The fundamental point, though, at least in the short term, would be for Trump to send a political message to Russia via allied consultations that American security is indivisible from NATO.
To be sure, this option is not a rationale for dramatically scaling back US conventional forces in Europe — which would only weaken the alliance’s overall deterrence. Nor should it be wielded as a bargaining chip in whatever negotiations Trump might pursue regarding the Russia-Ukraine war. Nuclear consultations should be treated on their own terms: as an effort to reinforce NATO via two allies who are already devoting vast resources to their own defense.
The second option readily available to Trump would be for him to get the White House back in the business of explaining to the American people the mounting threats they face — and what this means for their security. Here, Trump has a tremendous opportunity to outshine Biden, who neglected his duty to make the public case for greater defense spending. The simple act of adequately resourcing the military will have a deterrence effect by showing Beijing and Moscow that Washington is serious about defense. But sending this message will be impossible unless Americans hear from their president why they should support a larger defense budget.
Indeed, Trump can rip a page directly out of the Cold War playbook of Ronald Reagan, the last president to make the case for and oversee a military buildup to counter a nuclear-armed peer adversary. Beginning in the mid-1970s, Reagan hammered home the point that the country was on the wrong end of adverse trends in the Soviet-American strategic balance. And he clearly articulated, in speech after speech, why the country required modernized missiles and bombers to penetrate improved Soviet air defenses.
The Weekly Break Out Ep. 5: Plans for America’s Iron Dome and Marine F-35s
In this episode of The Weekly Break Out, space reporter Theresa Hitchens takes a deep dive into her coverage of how President Donald Trump’s “Iron Dome for America” plan is beginning to form. Plus, The Marine Corps makes a surprise shift in its F-35 strategy.
Reagan’s rhetoric and preparations to deploy these new capabilities ultimately had a demoralizing impact on the Soviets and yielded a landmark arms-control agreement on theater nuclear forces. Indeed, the Kremlin, as one Soviet official later recalled, was “already compromising” before the US nuclear buildup even began to pick up steam in the mid-1980s.
Fortunately for President Trump, the measures discussed above don’t require immediate solutions to America’s troubled defense-industrial base. They simply require the will to speak frankly with allies and the American people.
That nuclear modernization is beset with delays, a work-force shortage, and funding gaps is no reason to surrender to despair. President Trump, like Reagan, can achieve peace through strength if he seizes the opportunities before him.
Kyle Balzer is a Jeane Kirkpatrick Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute
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(Please note that the Sunday and Saturday NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS are also added below by category, following Monday’s news posts in order to maintain continuity of nuclear news as well as for research for the overall information provided in “LLAW;s All Things Nuclear”.)
There are 7 categories, with the latest addition, (#7) being a Friday weekly roundup of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) global nuclear news stories. Also included is a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives. The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:
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A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.
TODAY’s NUCLEAR WORLD’s NEWS, Tuesday, (02/11/2025)
All Things Nuclear
NEWS
Inside an underground facility where the U.S. tests nuclear weapons : Short Wave – NPR
NPR
All Things Considered · Fresh Air · Up First. Featured. The NPR Politics … But there are signs the world’s nuclear powers may be readying to test …
An underground facility where the U.S. tests nuclear weapons : Short Wave – NPR
NPR
BARBER: Hey, NPR science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel. Why are you darkening my doorstep? BRUMFIEL: To talk about one of my all-time favorite topics, …
Opposition leader on DPRK, Russian envoy’s interview and US-Japan nuclear pledge
YouTube
… About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK …
Nuclear Power
NEWS
Environmentalists raise concerns, but nuclear power bills advancing – YouTube
YouTube
Environmentalists raise concerns, but nuclear power bills advancing. 5 views · 5 minutes ago …more. FOX 13 News Utah. 302K. Subscribe.
Chris Wright Makes Unleashing Nuclear Power Priority for American Energy Abundance
Chuck Fleischmann – House.gov
President Donald Trump’s Energy Secretary is making commercial nuclear power a priority for unleashing American energy abundance and innovation.
Energy secretary explains the case for nuclear energy growth in the US – YouTube
YouTube
Energy Secretary Chris Wright discusses how he is looking to prioritize the expansion of America’s nuclear infrastructure on ‘The Will Cain Show.
Nuclear Power Emergencies
NEWS
Error Shuts Down Swiss Nuclear Power Reactor: Operator – Barron’s
Barron’s
A routine inspection at Europe’s oldest nuclear power plant Monday inadvertently triggered an emergency shutdown of one of the reactors, its Swiss …
Call for Papers: International Conference on Emergency Preparedness and Response | IAEA
International Atomic Energy Agency
Nuclear technology and applications · Energy · Health · Climate change … To ensure countries are prepared to respond to nuclear and radiological .
Translating Trump: Not An Energy Or Climate Emergency But A New Crisis: Electricity
Forbes
The Trump Solution. The Department of Energy (DOE) will focus its R&D budget on “fossil fuels, advanced nuclear, geothermal, and hydropower,” DOE …
Nuclear War Threats
NEWS
The Risks of South Korea’s Nuclear Armament Under a Troubled Democracy
United States Institute of Peace
The rationale is that Seoul should pursue nuclearization to counter North Korea’s escalating nuclear threats … nuclear attack. The threat of …
The Value of BARDA | Representative Tom Cole – House.gov
Tom Cole – House.gov
… threats. Yet, many of the products necessary to respond to a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear attack lack robust commercial markets.
Modi’s US visit raises industry hopes amid tariff threats – Reuters
Reuters
Modi is keen to avert a potential trade war … World · Reuters logo · North Korea says US nuclear submarine at South Korea port posing grave threat, …
Nuclear War
NEWS
Twin political paths President Trump can take to ensure nuclear deterrence
Breaking Defense
President Donald Trump enters office at a possible inflection point in the ongoing nuclear competition with China and Russia. … War European security …
I Just Found My Nuclear War Hideaway in Argentina’s Mendoza – Bloomberg
Bloomberg
Forgive me for interrupting with a macabre thought, but what’s your plan in case World War III breaks? This question is less and less theoretical: …
I Just Found My Nuclear War Hideaway in Argentina’s Mendoza – Bloomberg
Bloomberg
I Just Found My Nuclear War Hideaway. Mendoza, Argentina’s prime wine destination, has everything a refuge from an increasingly unstable and …
Yellowstone Caldera
NEWS
How Geology And Climate Control Vegetation Composition And Distribution In The …
National Parks Traveler
Editor’s note: Yellowstone Caldera Chronicles is a weekly column written by scientists and collaborators of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.
Climate, geology control Yellowstone’s vegetation – Buckrail
Buckrail
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK — Yellowstone Volcano Observatory’s (YVO) Feb. 10 Caldera Chronicles column reveals that Yellowstone National Park’s …
What will happen if Yellowstone’s supervolcano erupts? – MSN
MSN
‘ Although the Yellowstone caldera’s initial blast would kill thousands in a ‘super-eruption,’ showering multiple US states in ‘pyroclastic flows …