The nuclear arms treaty that the United States has with Russia is set to expire in 2021, and with the tensions between the two countries, any further escalations could lead to an all-out conflict or world war 3. But fears have since been stoked as the Trump administration has reportedly asked how long would it take for the military to pull out its nuclear weapons arsenal should the treaty with Russia expire.
The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty or New START will be expiring in February of 2021. The treaty was signed by the US and Russia back in 2011, was for the two nations to reduce their number of offensive arms that could be ready for deployment. According to people knowledgeable on the matter, the administration’s decision to look into how long it would take for the military to ready its nuclear weapons arsenal for deployment indicates how serious they would be in the negotiations. The US is pushing for an extension of the treaty as it expires in several months, and this is an attempt to get Russia into the negotiations as well.
Officials are also reportedly raising concerns about whether or not Russia is deliberately trying to delay the talks to see if Donald Trump would lose the November elections before a deal could be met. Officials think that Trump’s Democratic challenger, former vice president Joe Biden, would present better terms in the negotiations.
Experts, however, have warned that the current administration’s approach could backfire and get Russia to build their own nuclear arms supply.
Meanwhile, Major General Sir Robert Corbett recalled to Ian Sanders’ The Cold War Conversations Podcast a moment how he potentially committed a mistake that could have set off world war 3 back in the days when the Berlin wall was still in place. The British army veteran shared that when they entered East Germany, the driver of the train would purposely stop and start the train to prevent it from being boarded with passengers. Thus, every time Corbett and his soldiers would alight the train, they would leave in small numbers.
“My poor lads had been up and down the train like crazy all night long so I decided this time that I would do the forward patrol up to the front of the train with my platoon sergeant – which is not something I should have done.”