Podcasts Other The Inquiry Is the global nuclear threat level rising?

Is the global nuclear threat level rising?

Published: July 6, 2023, 7:30 a.m.

Following the Wagner mutiny in Russia, and with fighting intensifying as Ukraine presses on with its counter-offensive, there\u2019s concern about increasing instability around potential use of nuclear weapons. President Putin has threatened to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Gary O\u2019Donoghue asks how likely this is, and if the nuclear threat level is rising across the world.\n \nAre countries around the world looking at what is happening in Ukraine and adjusting their nuclear thinking? As China seeks to increase its own nuclear arsenal, experts are talking increasingly of Tripolar nuclear competition, taking in Russia and the US. In this uncertain world, what role - if any - is there for nuclear non-proliferation treaties and how can the nuclear threat be contained ?

Contributors\nNikolai N Sokov: The Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation\nRobert Litwak: Director of international security studies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars\nHenrik Hiim: Associate Professor, the Norwegian Institute for Defense Studies\nRose Gottemoeller: former Deputy secretary general of NATO, now at Stanford\u2019s \nFreeman Spogli Institute for International Studies

Presenter: Gary O\u2019Donoghue\nProducer: Phil Reevell\nResearcher: Anoushka Mutanda -Dougherty\nEditor: Tara McDermott \nTechnical producer: Nicky Edwards

(Yars intercontinental ballistic missile launched during exercises on October 26, 2022. Photo: Russian Defence Ministry via Reuters)