Rumors Of War: World Closer To Nuclear War As Russia And China Modernize And Expand Nuclear Arsenals

Pentagon document warns the world is moving closer to a nuclear war because Russia and China are developing new nuclear missiles, bombers and submarines

CHRISTOPHER EBERHART

• A Pentagon report says there is an 'increased potential' for regional, nuclear conflict with the country's main enemies - Russia, China, North Korea and Iran
• Russia and China have the most advanced of the four countries' nuclear weapons programs, according to the 2020 report which was released on July 6
• Both countries already possess or are currently developing intercontinental nuclear weapons that can be fired from the ground, air or submarine
• North Korea has 'accelerated' its pursuit of nuclear weapons and dramatically increased its missile flight testing
• Iran has the technology and capacity to develop a nuclear weapon within a year of when it decides to do so
• The US nuclear weapons program is a deterrent and only to be used in 'extreme circumstances' The 2020 update softened its language and removed mentions of using nuclear weapons to 'prevail in conflict.'

The US says there is an 'increased potential' for nuclear conflict with the country's main enemies because they are stockpiling nuclear weapons.

Russia and China have been modernizing and expanding their respective arsenals over the last decade, according to a recently disclosed 2020 report from the Pentagon on nuclear operations. 

And North Korea has accelerated testing of missiles capable of reaching America's homeland, and Iran has the technology to create a nuclear weapon within a year of deciding to do so.   

It says the US has tried to negotiate reductions in nuclear weapons capabilities since since 2010, but 'no potential adversary has reduced either the role of nuclear weapons in its national security strategy or the number of nuclear weapons it fields.'

'Rather, they have moved decidedly in the opposite direction,' according to the report, which was released on Tuesday and specifically mentions Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.

'As a result, there is an increased potential for regional conflicts involving nuclear-armed adversaries in several parts of the world and the potential for adversary nuclear escalation in crisis or conflict.'

Russia and China are the most serious threats to the United States because of the technology and arsenals they already possess. 

In 2019, Russia and the US withdrew from their 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which required the US and Soviet Union to eliminate all of their nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers. 

Russia, which considers the US and NATO 'principal threats to its contemporary geopolitical ambitions,' modernized its Soviet warhead delivery capabilities, is employing new nuclear warheads and launchers, and developing three new intercontinental-range nuclear weapon systems. 

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