Walter Pincus

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A mushroom cloud is seen during a French nuclear test in French Polynesia in 1970. (AFP/Getty Images)

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Sixty years ago, the Limited Test Ban Treaty halted the atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons. It was heralded as a great step forward. But in the long run, it has had a perverse effect.

It has led to our massive modern stockpile of nuclear weapons and the belief that these weapons are meant to be used to fight a war — not, as originally intended, to end one.

Worse, it has created a dangerous amnesia. People have forgotten how much destruction a single nuclear weapon can cause. They have lost their sense of horror.

That Russian President Vladimir Putin openly talks of using a tactical nuclear weapon in the war in Ukraine, and of revoking the test ban treaty, should be terrifying.…  Seguir leyendo »

A TM-61C Matador being assembled at Osan Air Base, Pyeongtaek, South Korea, in 1958. Matadors could be armed with nuclear warheads. Credit Associated Press

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As President Trump prepares for a possible meeting with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, many American are raising warnings that North Korea has walked away from previous arms agreements. But those skeptics should remember that it was the United States, in 1958, that broke the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement, when the Eisenhower administration sent the first atomic weapons into South Korea.

By the mid-1960s, the United States had more than 900 nuclear artillery shells, tactical bombs, surface-to-surface rockets and missiles, antiaircraft missiles and nuclear land mines in South Korea. Even nuclear projectiles for Davy Crockett recoilless rifles were for several years based in South Korea.…  Seguir leyendo »

Cuban migrants stranded on their way to the US, Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, February 16, 2017. Daniel Becerril/Reuters

MundoAmérica,

Among the various issues that came newly into focus with Donald Trump’s speech to Congress on Tuesday, the question of immigration stood out. Hours before the speech, Trump seemed to shift away from his controversial hard-line approach, telling TV anchors at an off-the-record White House session that he could consider legislation to open the way for millions of undocumented immigrants to remain in the US. Then, in the speech itself, Trump made a different emphasis, saying that, “I believe that real and positive immigration reform is possible, as long as we focus on the following goals: To improve jobs and wages for Americans; to strengthen our nation’s security; and to restore respect for our laws.”…  Seguir leyendo »