How concerned should we be about nuclear war right now?
While the nuclear tensions that marked the 20th century seemed to have faded away, experts say the potential for a conflict is once again elevated.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in July 2016.
It’s been more than 30 years since the collapse of the former Soviet Union. With its downfall came the end of the Cold War — a more than four decade-long period that brought with it the looming threat of a nuclear conflict.
The conversation around a nuclear war has ramped back up in recent weeks amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. New polling suggests a broad majority of Americans support imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine, but many experts say that could be a bad idea.
“Although it’s not something I worry about happening immediately… it’s very much there in the background,” — Stephen I. Schwartz, nonresident senior fellow at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
Listen: Concerns about nuclear war, from an expert.
Guest
Stephen I. Schwartz is nonresident senior fellow at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and an independent consultant, editor and co-author of the 1998 book “Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of US Nuclear Weapons Since 1940.” He says his concerns of nuclear war have heightened and specifically of the U.S. and Russia “stumbling into” exchanged nuclear activity.
“Although it’s not something I worry about happening immediately — right now, while we’re talking, for example — it’s very much there in the background,” says Schwartz.
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