Donald Trump’s challenge to the taboo around nuclear weapons should worry us all

Beyza Unal

In an op-ed for the NewStatesman, MENACS nonproliferation expert Beyza Unal discusses how the Trump administration’s move to develop low-yield nuclear weapons for battlefield use could increase the danger of escalating conflict.

Unal argues ” if the US decided to follow a nuclear approach based on the speedy deployment of low-yield nuclear weapons, this could be perceived as an existential threat to Russian nuclear forces, quite possibly leading Russia to react and develop even more new systems. An escalating, spiralling arms race that held the world to ransom during the Cold War was stabilised in large part through mutual and verifiable arms control – that lesson needs to be remembered.”

The full article may be viewed on the NewStatesman here.