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Is a worldwide nuclear holocaust closer than ever?

A new history of the bomb paints a grim picture of global geopolitics, with only a slender thread between peace and catastrophe

 In 1961, the philosopher Bertrand Russell published a short book called
Has Man a Future? He was writing about the nuclear threat, which, with the
arrival of the H-bomb, he feared might mark the final chapter of the story
of humanity.

We have in fact survived that threat, so far, for more than 70
years, but it has been, according to Serhii Plokhy’s sombre account in
The Nuclear Age, a close-run thing. Plokhy is best known for his excellent
studies of the Cuban missile crisis and the meltdown at Chernobyl.

Here he broadens his canvas, taking in the whole history of nuclear weapons, from futuristic early 20th-century predictions of atomic warfare to the threat of nuclear war made regularly today by Putin and his cronies. Plokhy thinks that the risk of such a conflict is greater now than ever before, with at least nine nuclear-armed powers and no effective international framework for limiting the threat (now that many of the earlier agreements have been overturned).

It’s possible, he claims, that up to 20 other states are
prepared to go nuclear if necessary, perhaps as many as 40. This is a grim,
albeit unverifiable, conclusion.

 Telegraph 30th Oct 2025, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/non-fiction/nuclear-age-serhii-plokhy-review/

October 31, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized