On this episode of International Reporters Roundtable, we put a spotlight on the threat of nuclear war. Those terrifying words have been appearing in the news with increasing frequency in statements made by presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin. Those who’ve lived through the Cold War are familiar with mushroom clouds and fallout shelters. Nuclear war was MAD—mutual assured destruction. We knew, if the USSR or USA pressed the button, we were all dead.
Post-Cold War, nuclear tensions abated and seemed relatively low, with the possible exception of random threats from North Korea. Now, all of a sudden the prospect of a nuclear strike is reemerging. What’s changed? Do smaller, tactical weapons, for use on the battlefield, alter the first-strike calculation? Would launching a lower-impact nuclear bomb cross the line and become the trigger for annihilation? How real is the threat today?…