US Ponders Nukes While Ignoring Global Test Ban Treaty
The Financial Times highlights the bizarre prospect of Donald Trump resuming nuclear weapons testing in the US. What they somehow manage to omit is that a ban on nuclear weapons testing isn't just a quaint suggestion; it's enshrined in the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which the US signed in 1996 but never ratified. That’s right, Washington has been dragging its feet on
ratification for nearly three decades, leaving the door ajar for figures like Trump to casually discuss restarting detonations. One might wonder if the concern over 'global arms races,' suddenly very acute when Trump enters the conversation, extends to countries that already possess nuclear weapons and routinely skirt international norms with little media scrutiny. Or perhaps, the selective
outrage over who might test a weapon conveniently eclipses the fact that the US, with its colossal arsenal, hasn't fully committed to the global ban in the first place. The hypocrisy of hand-wringing over potential testing while ignoring the structural failures of non-proliferation feels less like a warning and more like a carefully crafted distraction.