Evidence mounted that long-running global efforts to block nuclear proliferation were faltering.
France has suggested it could anchor a Europe-wide nuclear deterrent, proposals to which Estonia and Latvia have voiced openness, while Poland’s president has called for Warsaw to pursue its own independent capabilities to face down an “aggressive, imperial Russia.” The shift is not just evident in Europe: Satellite imagery analyzed by The New York Times showed that China was rapidly expanding its own nuclear arsenal, readying for “a new age of superpower rivalry.”
The momentum coincides with the expiry of a US-Russia nonproliferation treaty this month, and as diplomatic efforts to curtail other nuclear weapons buildouts — by Iran and North Korea — appear to stall or reverse.
