MIXED NUTS

Like the rest of the world, I have watched with fascination the events unfolding in Russia with regard to l’affaire Prighozin.  The latest bit of news, as yet not entirely confirmed, but terrifying nonetheless, is that as the Wagner forces marched north toward Moscow, one unit broke off to the east and headed for a Soviet era base housing nuclear weapons. It is unclear from the reports whether the Wagner unit actually reached the base, although one report has it that they made it all the way to the locked door behind which the weapons were stored.

 

The threat of nuclear weapons was the first political issue that fully engaged me, 65 years ago, and I have written about it on numerous occasions on this blog. There are by my count nine nations that possess nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, China, France, England, Pakistan, India, Israel, and North Korea. It has been 78 years since the United States used the first two primitive fission bombs to destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki and in the intervening years no nuclear weapon has ever been used in war.

 

I have tried on a number of occasions to explain why the notion of a “tactical nuclear weapon” is incoherent and I shall not repeat my explanations here. It was obvious two thirds of the century ago that so long as nuclear weapons exist there are no good policies with regard to them, only policies that are less rather than more disastrous.

 

Meanwhile, I note that two regular grand juries have been seated in Fulton County, Georgia and I eagerly await their decisions with regard to the cases that the DA shall present to them.