THE TRIBUNE

APLN member C Uday Bhaskar wrote on the findings of two major reports released by ICAN and SIPRI, highlighting that the world has drifted from reasonably robust deterrence to one of fragile fecklessness.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the world has been getting divided into two competing nuclear weapon clusters: the US-led military alliance (with the UK and France) versus the Russia-China dyad having North Korea as a junior partner. The other three members of N9 — India, Pakistan and Israel — have not formally joined either cluster, though their geopolitical orientation is self-evident.

The bleakness referred to at the outset stems from the fact that since 2022, the world has drifted from reasonably robust deterrence to one of fragile fecklessness. The earlier strategic communication among the major powers and well-entrenched arms control and restraint agreements have steadily frayed.

The US is going through an intense domestic socio-political churn with the possibility of a second Trump presidency. Russia remains determined to prosecute its war in Ukraine, come what may, while Chinese belligerence over its territorial claims continues to be brittle.

This is a bleak augury. The ICAN and SIPRI reports illuminate this arid landscape in an objective manner but underscore the grim reality that there is no light at the end of this tunnel.

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