Of course, in order for every country to focus on its own national economic development, a peaceful environment and the security of its borders are a prerequisite and of utmost importance. This requires all countries to respect the security concerns of others instead of pushing their own interests regardless.
That brings us to the subject of how to regain our strategic stability, not only in Europe but also in a worldwide context. It is a complicated issue, but must still be addressed and attended to by all stakeholders. The unfortunate reality is that along with the United States’ backing out of the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems (ABM) in 2001, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) in 2019, and the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) in 2021, the former arms control mechanism to ensure strategic stability has disappeared. With the danger of the major powers entering into a new wave of the arms race now becoming apparent, the whole world is exposed to the threat of deadly nuclear weapons.
During the course of the conflict in Ukraine, Russia has been pushed to threaten the use of nuclear weapons, hoping that NATO would back off and stop its expansion to Russia’s doorstep. Leaders of many Western countries have ignored Russia’s repeated warning to the extent that they seem to have completely forgotten about the power of the lethal weapon, of which Russia occupies one of the biggest arsenals of our time. Now that Russia has officially announced its readiness to revise its nuclear doctrines to allow itself to make pre-emptive strikes, the world has once again arrived at the edge of a major catastrophic disaster for humanity, and the situation is perhaps much more acute than that at the beginning of the Cold War.
Many officials in the current and previous US administrations have argued that the main reasons for the US backing out of those arms control treaties was so that the United States could contain and counter the joint threat imposed by Russia and China. However, this is contradictory to conventional wisdom since by comparison, China’s arsenal is much smaller and is there for defensive purposes only; in particular, China has always stated that it will not use nuclear weapons unless it is hit first. Also, let’s not forget that apart from the “Big Five” of the UN Security Council, many other countries around the world are now already in possession of nuclear weapons and hence any meaningful discussions on arms control, on nuclear non-proliferation, and above all, on nuclear deterrence should include the participation of not just a limited few, but all parties involved.
It takes two to tango, but a great many to form an orchestra to stage an exceptional performance of a world in harmony. If peace and development is what we all aspire for as humans, now is the time to lay down arms, to sit down and talk. But still, trust and mutual respect are the first step we must all try to take to regain strategic stability.
The Valdai Discussion Club was established in 2004. It is named after Lake Valdai, which is located close to Veliky Novgorod, where the Club’s first meeting took place.
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