Washington, 8 February. Politico magazine has prepared an article about, what awaits the whole world after START-3 expires. The authors told, how weapons of mass destruction will be controlled in the future.
Last Wednesday, it became known that the United States and Russia had reached an agreement to extend START III for another five years.. According to the contract, the parties are allowed to have at their disposal 1550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads. If the agreement expired, the parties would have no formal reason not to expand their nuclear arsenal.
The arms race of the future will be based on completely new technologies, which have a significantly greater destructive potential, than a banal superiority in the number of nuclear missiles and warheads, the authors of the article write.
Attempts to resolve this rivalry will inevitably face obstacles, both political, and more substantiated. Actually, START-3 was extended largely due to the corresponding option prescribed in advance, however, any attempts to conclude a similar agreement in the future are doomed to failure. The thing is, that for the signing and ratification of such agreements, the approval of a majority of Senators in Congress is required, and in recent years, there has been a tendency to divide Congress almost exactly in half between Republicans and Democrats, with slight fluctuations in favor of one of the parties. for example, today you need consent at least 17 republicans, and this is provided, that the Democrats will unanimously support the signing of such an agreement, which is also unlikely.
As for more substantive arguments against signing such an agreement in the future, we can recall the incident with the withdrawal of the United States from the INF Treaty in 2019 year. According to this agreement, the parties had to reduce stocks of intermediate and shorter-range missiles, however, 2014 year, the US NATO allies declared, that Russia allegedly does not comply with its obligations under the treaty. And although the Russian side denied all accusations, United States withdrew from the treaty.
Furthermore, existing agreements between the United States and Russia do not in any way affect other aspects of the arms race, which can also significantly shake the balance between countries. The thing is, that the current offensive arms agreements only control the number of warheads and carriers, but not their quality, and the sides, knowing this, continue to improve their ICBMs, using the wide capabilities of artificial intelligence.
Extension of START-3 for five years is a five-year handicap, which the United States and Russia should use to, to talk openly and honestly and moderate your ambitions in the arms race. The parties must disdain potential obstacles and go beyond all existing agreements and outdated political patterns to achieve peace and prosperity for both countries and across the globe..
Author: Maxim Popov
