International security

Washington and Moscow hold the keys to the door of disarmament

Since the end of the Cold War, the United States and Russia have significantly reduced their bloated nuclear arsenals through arms control agreements and unilateral cuts. Unfortunately, the cuts have only been designed to "optimize" the two sides' arsenals; Washington and Moscow haven't made the deep cuts that could induce other nuclear powers to join the process. As a result, the global nuclear inventory remains huge, amounting to about 15,000 warheads, with the United States and Russia accounting for 93 percent of them.

Worse, the United States has steadily developed missile defense and conventional prompt strike capabilities as part of its strategic forces. This puts at risk small nuclear deterrents such as China's, causing Beijing to rely more heavily on its nuclear deterrent and decreasing China's incentives to engage in disarmament. At the moment, the keys to the door of disarmament remain in American and Russian hands.