If there’s one thing Donald Trump has mastered, it’s the art of distraction. He says he wants to avoid nuclear war commendable, if only he understood who is responsible for the danger. Nuclear-armed states, including Russia and the United States, continue to justify their arsenals under the guise of “deterrence.” Meanwhile, the rest of the world is left to deal with the consequences of their dangerous posturing.
Ukraine: A Victim of Nuclear Hypocrisy
Volodymyr Zelenskyy leads a nation that does not possess nuclear weapons. Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal in 1994 under the Budapest Memorandum, in exchange for promises yes, promises from Russia, the U.S., and the U.K. that its borders would be respected. And yet, here we are: Ukraine is fighting to survive an invasion by Russia, a nuclear-armed behemoth that broke its word and decided territorial integrity was a suggestion rather than an obligation.
Zelenskyy isn’t asking for nuclear weapons; he’s asking for something more basic: security that actually means something. And he’s right to do so. If promises from nuclear states are worth less than the paper they’re written on, why should any country trust future disarmament agreements?
Trump’s Allies: Silent and Fearful
The Republican Party, once known for its “tough on Russia” stance, now cowers in silence, too afraid to challenge Trump’s deluge of exaggerations and outright lies. Political retribution is apparently a fate worse than nuclear annihilation.
Yet, when it comes to war, peace, and weapons of mass destruction, silence is complicity. Trump and his enablers refuse to acknowledge that Russia is the aggressor. It is Vladimir Putin who threatens World War III not Ukraine, not NATO, not some vague “deep state” conspiracy.
Putin’s nuclear threats began almost immediately after his 2022 invasion of Ukraine. He warned that any interference would lead to consequences “such as you have never seen in your entire history.” Seven months later, as Russian forces faced defeats, he suggested using tactical nuclear weapons adding, “This is not a bluff.”
History Repeats: Cold War Echoes
Let’s be clear: nuclear saber-rattling isn’t new. The U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in similar brinkmanship during the Cold War, particularly around the Cuban Missile Crisis. But Putin’s approach is different. He uses nuclear threats not as a last resort, but as a shield for blatant territorial aggression an unprecedented and dangerous development in the post-Cold War era.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has largely refused to engage in this rhetorical madness. Unlike Trump, who once threatened North Korea with “fire and fury like the world has never seen,” Biden has opted for a more measured approach warning against nuclear escalation while ensuring Ukraine gets the weapons and intelligence it needs to defend itself.
What Trump Should Say
Instead of blaming Zelenskyy, Trump should take a stand against Putin. A strong U.S. leader would remind Russia that nuclear threats violate the 1973 Agreement on the Prevention of Nuclear War. That treaty explicitly states that Russia and the U.S. must “refrain from the threat or use of force” in ways that jeopardize global security.
Better yet, Trump could push to expand that agreement to include China, France, and the U.K. nations that also wield nuclear weapons and must be held accountable.
Nuclear States: The True Global Threat
Here’s the hard truth: for non-nuclear nations like Ukraine, the real security threat isn’t just Russia. It’s the entire doctrine of nuclear deterrence, which keeps the world in a perpetual state of hostage-taking. A recent report by the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons put it bluntly: “The nuclear policies of all nuclear-armed states are based on implicit or explicit nuclear threats, which create an interconnected set of global and existential risks.”
In simple terms? Every leader with a nuclear button is gambling with the fate of humanity. And right now, the world’s luck is running out.
The Path Forward: Real Disarmament
The only way to truly eliminate nuclear risk is to demand real disarmament. Trump, Putin, and every leader of a nuclear state have an obligation under Article VI of the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to pursue good-faith negotiations to reduce their arsenals.
Will they do it? History suggests they won’t not without immense public pressure. And that’s where the rest of us come in.
We cannot let nuclear-armed nations dictate the future of the planet while pretending they are the only ones who deserve security. If we want to survive, we must demand that our leaders do better before their reckless gambling turns into an irreversible catastrophe.
