Arms for Uncertainty: Nuclear Weapons in US and Russian Security Policy by Stephen J. Cimbala

Author:Stephen J. Cimbala [Cimbala, Stephen J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Peace, Political Science
ISBN: 9781317178514
Google: ziftCwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2016-04-08T06:27:41+00:00

Chapter 6

Nuclear-Strategic Asia: Stability or Chaos?

The US Department of Defense has acknowledged a shift in American military planning and force deployments, from Europe to Asia, while maintaining a delicate balance of reassurances to NATO European allies. Among perceived threats both current and prospective, the existing and potential spread of nuclear weapons among states in Asia is a major threat to regional and global peace and security. Nuclear proliferation in Asia not only raises the probability and cost of wars among states, but it also invites nuclear handoffs to terrorists or other non-state actors with grievances aplenty and bad manners. In addition, nuclear turbulence in Asia is a back door to the reawakening of instability in Europe, otherwise politically and militarily stable.1 According to Lawrence J. Korb and Alexander Rothman:

In the twenty-first century, the Indian subcontinent has surpassed Europe as the most likely region for nuclear war. Over the past three decades, the Cold War giants—the United States and Russia—have reduced their nuclear arsenals by more than 70 per cent. Meanwhile, India and Pakistan have begun the world’s second nuclear arms race.2

Nuclear Asia is a large canvas. In the discussion that follows, we project into the latter second or early third decade of the twenty-first century. The political context of an Asian nuclear arms race is obviously different from the political context that surrounded US–Soviet competition throughout the Cold War. Therefore the consequences of variations in the performances of various forces may be more significant for crisis and arms race stability in a multipolar arms competition, compared to the two-way street of the Cold War.

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