International | Oppenheimer’s nightmares

A new nuclear arms race looms

It will be harder to stop than the contest of the cold war

Missiles going toward a cloud holding a question mark above the globe.
Image: Ben Jones

From offices in America’s State Department and Russia’s Ministry of Defence, officials take turns “pinging” each other every couple of hours just to check the line is working. Then, almost always, silence follows. It is the dying heartbeat of global nuclear arms control.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Oppenheimer’s nightmares”

From the September 2nd 2023 edition

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