Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Newsletter
Posted: 15th November 2022
Nov. 14, 2022
NUCLEAR RISK
Sanctioning Russia’s oligarchs—with shameThe last few months have brought a different sanctions strategy to the fore: one aimed at stigmatizing those close to Putin’s regime, in hopes of shattering elite support. For the first time in nearly two decades, these sanctions have prompted the first murmurs of public dissent by Russian oligarchs. Read more.
NUCLEAR RISK
“It’s a different kind of world we’re living in now”—Interview with political scientist Francis FukuyamaThere’s a lot of authoritarian governments on the move, and they’re consolidating power. But over the long term, things look brighter—if we have the willpower, says the author of the 1990s bestseller “The End of History.” Read more.
NUCLEAR RISK
Putin’s psychology and nuclear weapons: the fundamentalist mindsetVladimir Putin’s recent threats to use nuclear weapons are grounded in a psychology that is paranoid and also millennialist—focused on an imagined future that will come only after the “good” have vanquished the evil “others,” write Charles B. Strozier and David M. Terman. Read more.
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NUCLEAR RISK
Nuclear Notebook: The long view—Strategic arms control after the New START TreatyThis Nuclear Notebook examines the topic of strategic arms control after the expiration of the New START Treaty—which is the last standing arms control treaty between the US and Russia—in February 2026. Read more.
NUCLEAR RISK
Despite challenges, US-Russian nuclear arms control has its benefitsNew START expires in less than four years, which isn’t much time to put a replacement arms control arrangement in place. But the US and Russia can still reach agreement on crucial issues of concern, says arms control researcher Shannon Bugos. Read more.
NUCLEAR RISK
Russia’s economy is much more than a “big gas station.” Sanctions make that worse.Ironically, by sanctioning Russia, the West may actually make that country into a true petrostate that is dependent on a handful of extractive industries—making today’s caricature of Russia come true in the near future. Read more.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“There are 102 million people in Russia; we absolutely cannot leave them alone with Putin’s propaganda and his nuclear weapons.”
— Farida Rustamova, “What do ordinary Russians think? Interview with a Russian independent reporter,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
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