New Report Says Number Of Global Usable Nuclear Warheads Increased In 2022

DW: Number of usable nuclear warheads increased in 2022 — report  

The world's stockpile of usable nuclear warheads increased by over 130 in 2022, Norwegian People's Aid has reported. The authors have warned of the risk that nuclear weapons pose to humanity. 

The number of nuclear warheads that states could deploy reached a total of 9,576 at the beginning of 2023, up from 9,440 the previous year, according to a report published by the NGO Norwegian People's Aid (NPA) on Wednesday. 

The Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor report said that the weaponized nuclear power amounted to a "collective destructive power of more than 135,000 Hiroshima bombs."

The issue of nuclear weapons has become its most prominent since the end of the Cold War thanks in part to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and subsequent aggressive rhetoric, as well as fears over Iran's nuclear program and North Korea's renewed missile tests.  

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Update #1: Driven by Russia and China, world's usable nuke arsenal rose in 2022, reveals study (First Post) 

Update #2: World’s arsenal of nuclear weapons now has power of 135,000 Hiroshima bombs, report says (Stars and Stripes)  

WNU Editor: The Norwegian People's Aid's report is here .... NPA’s latest Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor is out.

Growing Concerns That China's Nuclear And Military Buildup Raises The Risk Of War In Asia

China's DF-41 nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles are seen during a military parade at Tiananmen Square in Beijing. © GREG BAKER / AFP 

 L.A. Times: China's nuclear and military buildup raises the risk of conflict in Asia 

It was already a dangerous race: China versus the United States, each pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into missiles, submarines, warplanes and ships, vying to dominate the Indo-Pacific. That race may now go nuclear. 

A Pentagon report released this month estimated that China may have 700 nuclear warheads by 2027 and 1,000 by 2030 — a dramatic increase from last year’s assessment that China’s 200 or so warheads would only double over the next decade.  

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Update #1: China’s nuclear weapons build-up signals a new arms race (Tom Fowdy, RT).  

WNU Editor: The Pentagon certainly sees China's nuclear arms expansion impacting long term US strategic interests .... Mark Milley Calls China’s Alleged Nuclear Buildup ‘One of Largest Shifts in Geostrategic Power Ever’ (Sputnik).  

Update #2: Here is a comprehensive breakdown of China;s nuclear forces .... Nuclear Notebook: Chinese nuclear forces, 2021 (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists).

Is The U.S. And Russia Entering A New Nuclear Arms Race?

An Avangard missile test launch in 2018. Source: TASS

Henry Meyer and Jake Rudnitsky, Bloomberg: Putin’s Hypersonic Nuclear Missile Stirs Fears of Arms Race

  * Russia is beating U.S. on defense-evading weapons, Putin said
  * Last U.S.-Russia strategic arms-control pact expires in 2021

A new hypersonic nuclear missile that Russia says it has deployed is fueling concerns of a new arms race with the U.S. as the clock ticks down on the expiry of the last treaty limiting the strategic arsenals of the two former Cold War foes.

Russia’s first regiment of Avangard missiles was commissioned in the Urals region of Orenberg, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Dec. 27, days after President Vladimir Putin boasted that the new weapon could penetrate any defensive shield.

“Not a single country possesses hypersonic weapons, let alone continental-range hypersonic weapons,” Putin told military chiefs. “They’re trying to catch up with us.”

The Russian leader unveiled the Avangard and five other new-generation weapons in his annual state-of-the-nation address in March 2018, saying it could travel at up to 20 times the speed of sound like a “meteorite” or a “fireball.”

The new weapon has gone into service amid heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington after President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of a landmark 1987 treaty banning deployment of short- and medium-range missiles, accusing Russia of being in breach of its terms. The Kremlin, which withdrew from the pact in response, denied the allegation.

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WNU Editor: The Kremlin is using this new hypersonic nuclear missile to get Washington back to the negotiating table. But considering what is happening in Washington today .... the 2020 elections and impeachment .... I do not think it is a priority right now for the White house.

NATO Is 'Preparing' For A World Where There Are No Nuclear Arms Treaties

Euronews: NATO 'preparing' for a world where nuclear arms treaty doesn't exist

NATO has warned that European countries may have to face living in a new reality following the scrapping of the long-standing nuclear treaty between Russia and the United States.

In the latest chapter of the war of words over the treaty, the alliance's Secretary General said despite the dismantling of the agreement, NATO's commitment to shared defence remained strong.

Speaking at a Brussels commemoration event for the September 11 attacks, Jens Stoltenberg said Europe needs to prepare for a world where Russia could place nuclear-capable missiles on its doorstep.

"What we are doing in NATO now is that we are adapting to a world without the INF Treaty, with more Russian missiles," he said.

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WNU Editor: For almost 80 years we have lived in a world where nuclear proliferation and nuclear arms races were a real fear. I certainly see this scenario continuing for the next 80 years and beyond.

Putin Orders Russia Military To Respond After Recent U.S. Missile Test

Reuters: Putin orders reciprocal Russian response to U.S. missile test

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday ordered a like-for-like response to a recent U.S. missile test, which he said showed that Washington aimed to deploy previously banned missiles around the world.

The Pentagon said on Monday it had tested a conventionally-configured cruise missile that hit its target after more than 500 km (310 miles) of flight, its first such test since the demise of a landmark nuclear pact this month.

Washington formally withdrew from the Cold War-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) on Aug. 2 after accusing Moscow of violating it, a charge dismissed by the Kremlin.

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More News On Putin Ordering Russia's Military To Respond After Recent U.S. Missile Test

Putin orders ‘exhaustive’ response to US missile test, says Washington worked to breach INF -- RT
Putin hands down orders to work on symmetric response to US new cruise missile’s test -- TASS
Putin orders Russia to respond after US missile test -- AP
Putin orders a 'symmetric response' following US test of a formerly banned missile and warns against 'a costly, destructive arms race' -- Daily Mail
Putin Orders 'Comprehensive Measures' In Response To U.S. Missile Test -- RFE
Putin orders 'symmetrical response' to US missile test -- FOX News
Putin To Russian Military: 'Prepare A Symmetrical Response' To U.S. Missile Test -- NPR
Kremlin: Putin held Security Council meeting to discuss U.S. missile test -- Reuters

Russian President Putin Warns Of A New Nuclear Arms Race

Daily Mail: Putin warns Russia will be 'forced' to develop new nuclear missiles after US and Russia tear up Cold War treaty - and warns Trump to 'avoid chaos that has no rules, limits and laws'

* Putin said in a statement today that Russia would respond to moves made by US
* Trump unilaterally withdrew from the arms-race ending deal last week
* The deal agreed by Reagan and Gorbachev had been in place since 1987
* Putin said the countries should 'weigh all possible dangerous consequences'

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russia would be 'forced' to develop new missiles if the US does the same, after Washington pulled out of a Cold War-era nuclear arms deal last week.

He urged the United States today to start new arms talks following the demise of a Soviet-era agreement, which limited the development of ground-based nuclear and ballistic mid-range missiles.

The president also added that he wished to 'avoid chaos that has no rules' and to 'weigh all possible dangerous consequences.' He added that he wanted to start 'serious dialogue without any ambiguities.'

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More News On Russian President Putin Warning Of A New Nuclear Arms Race

Putin to Trump: We'll develop new nuclear missiles if you do -- Reuters
Russia Will Develop New Nuclear Missiles If You Do, Putin Tells U.S. -- RFE
Russia threatens retaliation if US deploys missile posts in Asia following withdrawal from Cold War treaty -- The Independent
Putin: US quitting INF created ‘fundamental’ risks for all, paved way to ‘unrestrained’ arms race -- RT
Putin: Russia Can't Be Content With US Declarations of 'Peaceloving Intentions' Following INF Exit -- Sputnik
Putin warns US efforts to dismantle INF can reignite arms race -- TASS

Russian President Putin Warns That European Countries That Host U.S. Nuclear Missiles Will Be Targeted

Reuters: Russia will target European countries if they host U.S. nuclear missiles: Putin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia would be forced to target any European countries that agreed to host U.S. nuclear missiles following Washington's withdrawal from a landmark Cold war-era arms control treaty.

Speaking at a news conference after holding talks with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Putin said he wanted to discuss what he called dangerous U.S. plans to leave the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with U.S. President Donald Trump.

The two leaders are expected to hold talks in Paris on Nov. 11.

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WNU Editor: This is a threat if I ever heard one, and not surprising the Europeans are keeping to themselves .... European NATO allies muted on nuclear treaty's demise (DW).

Russian President Putin Warns Of A New 'Arms Race'

President Vladimir Putin says Russia will respond "in kind" if the United States places new missiles on European soil (AFP Photo/Sergei CHIRIKOV)

AFP: Putin warns of a new 'arms race'

Moscow (AFP) - President Vladimir Putin warned Wednesday of a new arms race if America pulls out of weapons treaties, and said Russia would respond "in kind" to any new US missiles placed on European soil.

At the weekend, US President Donald Trump sparked concerns globally when he said he would ditch a Cold War-era nuclear weapons treaty, the three-decade-old Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).

Speaking after hosting Trump's national security advisor John Bolton on Tuesday, Putin warned that abandoning the treaty, and failure to extend another key arms control agreement known as the New START, would unleash a new arms race and put Europe in danger.

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Update: Putin slams Trump's nuclear buildup threat as 'very dangerous' (CNN)

WNU Editor: Putin's concerns are valid. But like the NATO chief said on Wednesday .... NATO chief sees new U.S. missile deployments in Europe as unlikely (Reuters). Here is an easy prediction .... both sides are going to be doing a lot of talking before we read and hear stories of new nuclear missiles being developed and deployed.

Update #2: I want to hear the answers when the questions are asked .... Dems demand Mattis, Pompeo brief on Trump's withdrawal from arms control treaty (The Hill).

Modernizing Today's Nuclear Arsenal Is Raising Fears Of A New Arms Race

FILE PHOTO - A U.S. Air Force B-52 flies over Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, January 10, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo

Reuters: Special Report: In modernizing nuclear arsenal, U.S. stokes new arms race

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama rode into office in 2009 with promises to work toward a nuclear-free world. His vow helped win him the Nobel Peace Prize that year.

The next year, while warning that Washington would retain the ability to retaliate against a nuclear strike, he promised that America would develop no new types of atomic weapons. Within 16 months of his inauguration, the United States and Russia negotiated the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, known as New START, meant to build trust and cut the risk of nuclear war. It limited each side to what the treaty counts as 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads.

By the time Obama left office in January 2017, the risk of Armageddon hadn’t receded. Instead, Washington was well along in a modernization program that is making nearly all of its nuclear weapons more accurate and deadly.

And Russia was doing the same: Its weapons badly degraded from neglect after the Cold War, Moscow had begun its own modernization years earlier under President Vladimir Putin. It built new, more powerful ICBMs, and developed a series of tactical nuclear weapons.

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WNU Editor: A sobering read.

Could President-Elect Trump's Tweets Spark A Nuclear Arms Race?

The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 22, 2016

Vann R. Newkirk II, The Atlantic: Could Trump's Tweets Spark a Nuclear Arms Race?

A nonproliferation expert puts the president-elect’s latest remarks in context.

Donald Trump tweeted something controversial today. After Twitter controversies involving Boeing, terror attacks, and former President Bill Clinton, Trump has directed his attention towards the American nuclear arsenal. Thursday morning, Trump tweeted that “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.” The impetus behind the tweet is unknown, but Trump may have been responding to the concerns of Boeing and Lockheed Martin executives after a Wednesday meeting, or to a rather similarly-worded statement from Russian President Vladimir Putin early Thursday.

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WNU Editor: We would be living in an incredibly insecure and in an incredibly unstable world if a tweet could result in an arms race that would involve millions of lives and trillions of dollars. Fortunately .... the world is far more stable than that.

Are We About To Witness A Nuclear Arms Race In East Asia?

Andrei Lankov, Al Jazeera: A nuclear arms race in East Asia?

It is a place where most nations deeply distrust their neighbours, and where old-style nationalism still reigns supreme.

Recently, news from the Korean Peninsula has been dominated by missiles: as satellite images confirmed, the North Koreans have been busy preparing another test launch of "BM-25 Musudan", their intermediate-range missile.

The launch ended in failure, the fourth such failure in this year. Nonetheless, North Korean engineers and scientists are busy developing both long-range and submarine-based ballistic missiles, capable of hitting the United States.

There has been much hype about the recent Musudan launch, but few people noticed another piece of news that came from South Korea a week earlier.

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WNU Editor: For the moment .... with the U.S. commitment to Asian defence still strong .... I do not see an East Asia nuclear arms race .... but I do see the development of weapons platforms that can easily be switched from conventional to nuclear payloads. But .... if the U.S. military does leave East Asia, and U.S. security commitments for the region are in doubt .... both South Korea and Japan will develop a nuclear arsenal .... and fast.

The Nuclear Arms Race Is Back

Topol-M road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile.(RIA Novosti / Syisoev)

David Axe, Daily Beast: Russia’s New Missile Means the Nuclear Arms Race Is Back On

Team Putin is talking up fearsome new hardware that could accelerate a nuclear contest not seen since the Cold War.

Russia has a new nuclear missile -- one that Zvezda, a Russian government-owned T.V. network, claimed can wipe out an area "the size of Texas or France."

Actually, no, a single SS-30 rocket with a standard payload of 12 independent warheads, most certainly could not destroy Texas or France. Not immediately. And not by itself.

Each of the SS-30's multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle warheads, or MIRVs, could devastate a single city. But Texas alone has no fewer than 35 cities of 100,000 people or more.

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WNU Editor: We are not even close to what the arms race was like during the Cold War, but the trend lines are worrying.

Is East Asia On the Verge Of A Nuclear Arms Race?

Twitter

Henry Sokolski, Wall Street Journal: Japan and South Korea May Soon Go Nuclear

The longtime status quo is crumbling and plutonium stockpiles are rising.

On Friday North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un praised his country’s recent hydrogen bomb test and satellite launch as “unprecedented” achievements that will “bring the final victory of the revolution.” Such rhetoric is nothing new, but North Korea’s nuclear-weapons program and a growing sense that security arrangements with the U.S. aren’t sufficient has eroded the Japanese taboo against nuclear weapons. On April 1, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet announced that Japan’s constitution did not ban his country from having or using nuclear arms.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s ruling-party leaders have urged President Park Geun-hye to stockpile “peaceful” plutonium as a military hedge against its neighbors. A Feb. 19 article in Seoul’s leading conservative daily, the Chosun Ilbo, went so far as to detail how South Korea could use its existing civilian nuclear facilities to build a bomb in 18 months.

Japan and South Korea are party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and Tokyo’s antinuclear-weapons stance dates to 1945 and the nuclear devastation the U.S. wreaked on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But that won’t necessarily stop either country from joining the nuclear club—or at least positioning themselves to do so quickly—if they feel the U.S. “nuclear umbrella” is folding.

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WNU Editor: Unless the U.S. gives up and leaves Asia .... I do not see either South Korea or Japan producing nuclear weapons. Positioning themselves to be able to develop and produce nuclear weapons ... yes .... actually making and producing them .... no. The political and public will in both countries is not there .... at least for now.

A New Nuclear Arms Race

Topol-M road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile.(RIA Novosti / Syisoev)

New York Times: Race for Latest Class of Nuclear Arms Threatens to Revive Cold War

The United States, Russia and China are now aggressively pursuing a new generation of smaller, less destructive nuclear weapons. The buildups threaten to revive a Cold War-era arms race and unsettle the balance of destructive force among nations that has kept the nuclear peace for more than a half-century.

It is, in large measure, an old dynamic playing out in new form as an economically declining Russia, a rising China and an uncertain United States resume their one-upmanship.

American officials largely blame the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, saying his intransigence has stymied efforts to build on a 2010 arms control treaty and further shrink the arsenals of the two largest nuclear powers. Some blame the Chinese, who are looking for a technological edge to keep the United States at bay. And some blame the United States itself for speeding ahead with a nuclear “modernization” that, in the name of improving safety and reliability, risks throwing fuel on the fire.

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WNU Editor: And to think that President Obama got a Nobel Prize for promoting nuclear disarmament.

Are We At the Cusp Of A New Nuclear Arms Race?

Titan II Nuclear Missile in Silo (Image from Flickr)

Gordon Adams & Richard Sokolsky, Defense One: Obama Is About To Launch A New Nuclear Arms Race. There’s a Better Way.

The United States is on the cusp of launching an unnecessary, expensive, and potentially dangerous plan to modernize its strategic nuclear forces, helping stimulate what is being called a “new nuclear arms race.” Before Washington starts down this path, it needs to step back and ask, “How much is enough?” or, as the Cold War adage went, “How high do we need to make the rubble bounce? The United States can deter any country from using nuclear weapons against America and its treaty allies with a nuclear force that is far smaller, less destabilizing, and less expensive than the one the Pentagon is planning to build.

This October will mark the 30th anniversary of the Reykjavik Summit, where President Ronald Reagan and then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev came close to abolishing nuclear weapons. Six years ago, President Barack Obama made the same commitment. But today, a quarter-century after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the United States is planning to spend $1 trillion over the next three decades to replace or upgrade virtually all of its strategic nuclear weapons. At the same time, Russia also has undertaken ambitious plans to upgrade its strategic nuclear forces with new multi-warhead missiles, aircraft, submarines, and even a rumored nuclear underwater drone.

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WNU Editor: Does the U.S. have the funds ($1 trillion) to cover this program ... apparently it does. Is the U.S. exploring other options .... no. But in all fairness to the White House .... the Kremlin is  following this same expensive policy.

A New U.S. - Russian Nuclear Arms Race?

Russia is threatening to place nuclear-capable ballistic missiles in Europe in response to a U.S. threat. Pictured: Russian servicemen equip an Iskander tactical missile system at the Army-2015 international military-technical forum in Kubinka, outside Moscow, June 17, 2015. Reuters/Sergei Karpukhin

UPI: Russia vows to counter reported U.S. nukes in Germany

MOSCOW, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Tensions are rising in Europe as Russia's government announced it will take countermeasures if reports of U.S. plans to upgrade nuclear capabilities in Germany are true.

A Kremlin official voiced concern over the reported U.S. plans when he spoke to reporters on Wednesday.

"Certainly, it's another, unfortunately, very serious step," Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said. "Unfortunately, if this step is implemented -- and we can say they are confidently advancing towards its implementation, it may disrupt the strategic balance in Europe and therefore will clearly make Russia take corresponding countermeasures to re-establish the balance."

WNU Editor: The U.S. responds .... US Ready to Respond to Alleged Russia INF Violations (Sputnik).

More News On Reports That Russia Will Respond If The U.S. Modernizes Its Nuclear Force In Germany

Kremlin: Russia to take countermeasures to US nuclear weapons stationing in Germany -- TASS
Kremlin Threatens Response to U.S. Nuclear Bomb Deployment in Germany -- Moscow Times
Russia pledges counter measures if U.S. upgrades nuclear arms in Germany -- Reuters
Russia threatens response if US places new nukes in Germany -- AP
Russia Warns of Response to Reported US Nuke Buildup in Turkey, Europe -- Military.com
Russia Threatening Nuclear Standoff In Europe? Moscow Vows Countermeasures Over Pentagon's Plan To Increase Atomic Stockpiles -- IBTimes
Nuclear war? Russia looks to fire missiles as US plans to move in weapons to Germany -- Express
Arms race fears as Russia considers stationing ballistic missiles in Kaliningrad in response to increased US nuclear threat in Germany -- The Independent

Israel’s Intelligence Minister: Warns Of Nuclear Arms Race In Middle East

Euronews: Exclusive: Israeli intelligence minister warns of nuclear arms race in Middle East

A nuclear deal with Iran will spark an atomic arms race in the Middle East, Israel’s intelligence minister has warned.

Speaking in an interview with euronews, Yuval Steinitz sets out his case for ensuring Iran cannot remain in a position to develop nuclear weapons.

WNU Editor: Nuclear arms proliferation has (and will be) always a concern .... unfortunately .... it appears that we are now entering an age where limiting/preventing it is becoming next to impossible.

Is India Operating A Covert Program To Develop Thermonuclear Weapons?

March 3, 2010 GeoEye satellite image of Rare Materials Plant (RMP), India’s military gas centrifuge uranium enrichment facility. The construction of one or more large industrial buildings can be seen in this image. ISIS

India Nuke Enrichment Plant Expansion Operational In 2015 - IHS -- Reuters

(Reuters) - India is expanding a covert uranium enrichment plant that could potentially support the development of thermonuclear weapons, a defence research group said on Friday, raising the stakes in an arms race with China and Pakistan.

The revelation highlights a lack of nuclear safeguards on India under new Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while sanctions-bound Iran faces minute scrutiny in talks with world powers over its own nuclear programme.

New units at the Indian Rare Metals Plant would boost India's ability to produce weapons-grade uranium to twice the amount needed for its planned nuclear-powered submarine fleet, IHS Jane's said.

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My Comment: Apparently this development and expansion program has been ongoing for the past few years. If reports like this one are true .... Asia is now at the brink of a major nuclear arms race.

The Smaller Powers Are Boosting Their Nuclear Arsenals

China, India And Pakistan Boost Nuclear Arsenals, Others Make Few Changes -- Deutsche Welle

China, India and Pakistan have increased their nuclear arsenals over the last year, a Swedish-based peace research institute has said. The world's main powers, meanwhile, are making little or no cuts to their supplies.

China now has 250 nuclear warheads, compared to 240 in 2012, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said Sunday in its annual report, adding that the country is "highly non-transparent" when it comes to its nuclear arsenal. Pakistan increased its number by 10 to between 100 and 120 and India has also added around 10 for a rough total of 90 to 100, the institute said.

That growth is part of what SIPRI calls a "fragile" peace in Asia characterized by escalating tensions since 2008 between India and Pakistan, China and Japan, and the two Koreas, among others.

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More News On China, India And Pakistan Boosting Their Nuclear Arsenals

China, India, Pakistan boost nuclear arsenals: study -- AFP
China Nuclear Weapons Stock Grows; India Matches Pakistan Rise -- Bloomberg Businesweek
Think Tank: China Boosts Nuclear Arms Arsenal -- AP
Report: Pakistan, India, China Add Nukes -- Radio Free Europe
Study: Nukes, Cyber Weapons Fuel Global Instability -- National Defense
Pakistan, India, China beefed up nuclear arms arsenal in 2012: study -- International News

A Nuclear Arms Race In The Middle East?

Iran nuclear power center

Fears Of Nuclear Arms Race As Nations Gear Up To Follow Iran -- Times Online

The failure of the international community to reach a deal with Tehran is sparking fears of an atomic arms race in the volatile and oil-rich region.

While the West may be doing all it can to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions it is helping many countries in the Middle East to obtain civilian nuclear technology.

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My Comment: Forget about the fears .... the worse case scenario is already happening right now .... whether we want it or not. With the developed world more than eager to sell nuclear reactors and nuclear technologies to the region, the genie is already out of the bottle, and it is not going to be put back.