This special report examines the global fallout from Donald Trump's recent directive for the US military to resume nuclear weapons testing, a move that pits Washington against rivals Russia and China. The programme opens with a stark warning: 'The United States has reignited one of history's most dangerous debates'. After a moratorium of over 30 years, with the last US test in 1992, this decision threatens to unravel decades of nuclear restraint. The move comes after Russia's 2023 withdrawal of its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), aligning its stance with the US, which signed but never ratified the 1996 accord. With a global arsenal of over 12,000 warheads and major powers actively modernising their forces, analysts fear this could trigger a renewed, high-stakes arms race, reminiscent of the Cold War's most perilous moments.
00:00The United States has reignited one of history's most dangerous debates.
00:05President Donald Trump directed the US military to resume nuclear weapons testing
00:09for the first time in 33 years, moments before meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping.
00:14The order instantly raised questions.
00:17Why restart testing now?
00:18Why was it halted in the first place and what could it really mean for the world?
00:22Let's go back in time.
00:23The nuclear era began in July 1945, when the United States detonated the world's first atomic bomb
00:31in Alamogordo of New Mexico.
00:34Just weeks later, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were devastated, ending World War II but ushering in a perilous new age.
00:42The Soviet Union joined the race in August 1949, shattering America's monopoly and setting off a global arms contest.
00:49Between 1945 and the signing of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the CTBT, in 1996,
00:57the world witnessed over 2,000 nuclear tests, a grim record of technological one-upmanship.
01:05United States conducted 1,032 tests during that period.
01:09The Soviet Union, 715 tests.
01:12France conducted 210 tests.
01:14The UK and China both conducted 45 tests.
01:19After the CTBT, the treaty was introduced, only 10 more tests have been recorded.
01:24India, of course, is in that list.
01:26India and Pakistan each conducted 2 in 1998.
01:30North Korea carried out 6 between 2006 and 2017.
01:34The US last tested way back in 1992.
01:38The Soviet Union in 1990.
01:40France and China halted theirs in 1996.
01:43Russia, inheriting the Soviet arsenal, has not resumed testing, though it has experimented with nuclear-powered weapons and conducted military drills as well.
01:53Now, the global halt stemmed from fears of environmental destruction, of radiation exposure, and above all, human suffering.
02:01Above-ground and underwater detonations left entire regions scarred.
02:05Kazakhstan, the Kazakhstan steps, the Antarctic tundra, the islands of the Pacific, they were all affected.
02:10Communities near test sites faced generational health crises, while radioactive fallout polluted ecosystems for decades.
02:19The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the CTBT, as I referred to it earlier, was adopted in 1996, and it sought to close that chapter by prohibiting all nuclear explosions.
02:30America signed this treaty, but never ratified it.
02:35Russia signed and ratified the treaty, though in 2023, President Vladimir Putin withdrew Moscow's ratification, aligning its stance with Washington's.
02:44Proponents believe the treaty reduced Cold War tensions by freezing the cycle of nuclear escalation.
02:50Resuming tests could serve two purposes, technical validation or geopolitical signaling, which is what we see a whole lot of today.
02:58Testing helps confirm whether new warhead designs function properly, or whether older stockpiles remain reliable.
03:05But a test can also very much be a statement of power, a message to rivals, in the case of America, to rivals like Russia and China, that the United States intends to reassert dominance.
03:17Now, reports in 2020 suggested the Trump administration had already debated this move.
03:22Analysts say any live detonation now could provoke an immediate response.
03:26Putin has warned that Russia would follow suit, risking a return to Cold War-style brinkmanship, though far fewer than during the Cold War peak of 70,000 warheads.
03:36That was in 1986.
03:38Now, right now, there's still around 12,000 nuclear weapons, mostly held by the United States and Russia, which is what makes current developments extremely dangerous.
03:48Despite reductions, the three biggest powers, U.S., Russia and China are now modernizing their arsenal,
04:17developing faster, more precise, more survivable nuclear weapons.
04:22Trump's order now marks a historic reversal of nuclear restraint, raising fears of a new arms race.
04:28The test ban that once symbolized collective caution may be fading.
04:32The world could once again find itself watching out for the next mushroom cloud.
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