The Nuclear Charade: US-Russia Arms Control, Brought to You by the Military-Industrial Complex
The Actors and Their Roles On center stage we have the Russian Foreign Ministry, specifically Vladimir Yermakov, director of the department for non-proliferation and arms control. His job is to issue statements that sound reasonable but ultimately change nothing. Across the aisle, we have unnamed 'U.S. officials' and the broader American defense establishment, who will inevitably dismiss this as
'empty rhetoric' while simultaneously justifying increased defense spending. And, of course, the media, acting as the prompter, ensuring the 'threat' narrative stays fresh. The Funding and Incentives Make no mistake, this isn't about peace; it's about perpetuating the greatest money-making scheme known to geopolitics: the global arms race. When treaties expire without renewal, it creates a 'threat
vacuum' that naturally leads to calls for more defense spending. The U.S. military-industrial complex, led by giants like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, saw its stock prices soar during periods of heightened tension. For example, Lockheed Martin alone reported over $60 billion in net sales in 2023 (Lockheed Martin, 2024). Russia, too, relies heavily on arms exports and domestic production to
bolster its economy and project power. Every 'failure' in arms control is a win for their respective national defense budgets. Curiously, the U.S. withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002 and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019 under various pretexts didn't lead to a sudden decrease in global stability or a race to the bottom in nuclear arsenals as much as it led