PODCAST: Are we safer now from nuclear war than we were after 1945? – Buchanan and Manning

In this the eighth episode of A View from Afar for 2023, political scientist Dr Paul Buchanan and Selwyn Manning examine the risks of a 21st century nuclear war. The movie Oppenheimer has renewed interest in the dawn of the nuclear era. Almost 80 years later, are we safer from nuclear war than we were in the years immediately after 1945? The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved its Doomsday Clock hand to 90 seconds before midnight, the highest threat level since the Cuban Missile Crisis.What does that say about contemporary international security affairs? No new nuclear arms limitation agreements have been signed in over a decade, several have lapsed and most nuclear armed countries are not signatories to them anyway. Countries like China are rapidly expanding their arsenals and others like North Korea and Iran are seeking to join the nuclear armed club. Has nuclear arms control failed? What is the future of the Non-Proliferation Treaty? Although conventions against the use of chemical