The world is at the start of a new, undeclared nuclear arms race. In August 2019, the U.S. and Russia officially abandoned the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987, leaving the door open to the development of new missiles. China has 300 nuclear weapons and is expected to double its arsenal in the next decade. Last month, the U.K. raised the cap on its nuclear stockpile by more than 40%, the first projected increase since the end of the Cold War.
With Cold War-era arms control agreements gone, we are facing the first uncontrolled arms race since the 1960s. The nuclear competition of that era culminated in the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, arguably the most dangerous moment not only of the Cold War but in world history. If we want to avoid a repetition of that crisis, it’s high time to relearn its lessons—which look different today than they once did, in the light of newly uncovered Soviet sources.
