BY STATE SENATOR JAMES SANDERS, JR.
Last week, in my column, I discussed how Trump’s careless words in the form of tweets and other communications could potentially start a war with North Korea. We already have a delicate relationship with the communist country and its dictator Kim Jung Un, Trump did not need to be calling him “rocket man,” and label North Korea “a band of criminals.” He even went so far as to say Kim Jong Un “won’t be around much longer,” and that the U.S. would “destroy” North Korea if necessary. Luckily, for now, Trump is sticking with sanctions.
So why am I recapping this war of words that could lead to a real war? It’s because this week, a new NBC report revealed that Trump said during a meeting at the Pentagon in July, that he wanted to increase the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile tenfold, bringing it back to its high point of 32,000 weapons during the 1960s in the midst of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. However, the report did not say that Trump had any specific plans in the works to start ramping things up again.
Now let’s take a look at the bigger picture for a moment and examine which counties have how many nuclear weapons. This information is easily accessible through the Arms Control Association’s website. Russia leads with 7,000 weapons in its stockpile. The United States comes in second place with 4,000 nuclear weapons plus another 2,800 that are retired. Third place goes to France with 300 nukes.
North Korea only has enough plutonium for approximately 10 nuclear warheads according to the ACA, but it is constantly looking for ways to extract more supplies of the radioactive chemical element. The country may also be producing highly enriched uranium for weapons. Based on the rate of its weapon growth and technological improvements, experts estimate that North Korea could have between 20-100 nuclear warheads by 2020, according to the ACA.
Even though the U.S. was responsible for creating the first nuclear weapon, and dropping an atomic bomb on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it soon realized the need to stifle this kind of weaponry and prevent other countries from creating huge arsenals. In 1968, the U.S. and other like-minded nations signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) followed by the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996 to accomplish that goal.
Of course, President Trump denies the whole NBC report, calling it “fake news.” There has also been denial that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called the Commander-in-Chief a “moron,” following the talks about increasing our country’s nuclear weapons,
We cannot allow Trump to take our country back to Cold War times. We must ensure that the treaties to stop nuclear proliferation are adhered to, especially by the U.S. because we set the example for the rest of the world. Here in Southeast Queens, we can do this by expressing our views on national defense and nuclear arms to our representatives in government., I always look forward to hearing what my constituents, whom I refer to as my bosses, have to say, and I use that information to guide me in better decision making. All lawmakers, especially Trump, should be listening to the people.
Let’s not make America armed again.
