The Risk of Nuclear Proliferation (and War) Is Growing
As a landmark anti-nuclear treaty turns 50 and Iran goes rogue, the world is in peril. Game theory shows just how great the danger is.
Good to remember.
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It’s been 75 years since Hiroshima and Nagasaki were incinerated, and 50 years since the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty took effect. And yet the world is today in greater danger of nuclear war than at any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
In its confrontation with the U.S., Iran appears hell-bent on getting nukes, and could do so within a year. If it does, Saudi Arabia and Turkey will almost certainly follow suit. Israel is already armed. Asia has several nuclear hotspots. And in the most frightening scenario, at any point bombs could fall into the hands of terrorists or other “non-state” groups that are hard to retaliate against and thus to deter.