Leaders | Destroyer of worlds

How to stop a three-way nuclear arms-race

America, China and Russia must agree on mutual restraints before it’s too late

A rocket launches from a missile system during a test at the Plesetsk facility in north-western Russia.
Image: AP

In life and in a recent film, Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, was haunted by the idea that “I am become Death, destroyer of worlds.” The Cuban missile crisis of 1962 nearly brought annihilation. Fortunately the superpowers stepped back from the brink and agreed on arms-control deals that eventually shrank nuclear stockpiles, and did more besides.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “A three-way nuclear arms-race”

From the September 2nd 2023 edition

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