From Caitlan Johnstone:

We came within a hair’s breadth of nuclear annihilation on more than one occasion during the last cold war, and the further things escalate in this new one the more likely we are to tempt fate again. The only reason we survived the extremely tense stand-offs in the last cold war ultimately boiled down to pure dumb luck in some cases, and there’s no legitimate reason to believe we’ll get lucky again.

From Stephen Lendman:

No nations threatened US security since WW II ended, none now. Claims otherwise unjustifiably justify recklessly high military spending, including Trump’s plan to spend around $1.5 trillion over the next 30 years to upgrade America’s nuclear arsenal – needing no upgrading, certainly not what’s proposed.

Claiming “(t)he United States remains committed to its efforts in support of the ultimate global elimination of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons” is belied by its aggressive agenda, notably its permanent war policy.

Washington prioritizes militarism and belligerence, world peace and stability anathema notions it rejects.

Claiming “global threat conditions have worsened markedly since” the Obama administration’s 2010 NPR, “including increasingly explicit nuclear threats from potential adversaries,” is a bald-faced lie.

So is saying Washington is committed to reducing its nuclear arsenal while “Russia and China have moved in the opposite direction” – calling their behavior “increasingly aggressive.”

Claiming Iran has “the technological capability and much of the capacity necessary to develop a nuclear weapon within one year” ignores the Islamic Republic’s abhorrence of these weapons.

North Korea’s nuclear weapons program is solely for defense, genuinely fearing US aggression, hoping its capability can deter the possibility.

Claiming America faces “an unprecedented range and mix of threats, including major conventional, chemical, biological, nuclear, space, and cyber threats, and violent non- state actors” is utter rubbish.

America’s rage for endless wars of aggression, along with its rogue allies, poses the only serious threat to world peace and stability.

The absence of a rational actor invites a nuclear first strike.

Correction: The presence of an insane warmongering actor demands a nuclear first strike.

Fortunately, #Russia and #China have concentrated R&D on conventional kinetic defensive weapons, and just in time, apparently.

The only thing keeping us alive at the moment is the the forbearance of our enemies.