2025-08-02
49 分钟It was April 2009. 30,000 people gathered in Prague to hear the president speak.
But not the Czech one.
The American president, Barack Obama, was there to talk about nuclear power.
He called the existence of thousands of nuclear weapons the most dangerous legacy of the Cold War.
And he committed to a future of peace and security without them.
That future has not arrived.
Instead, less than 20 years later, the world's nuclear arsenals are growing.
I'm James Bennett, and this is Checks and Balance from The Economist.
Each week, we take one big theme shaping American politics and explore it in depth.
Today, the third nuclear age.
Many of the world's nuclear powers and would-be nuclear powers have faced off in recent months.
Iran, Israel, Pakistan, India.
China is rapidly building up its own nuclear arsenal.
and the threat of a Russian nuclear strike has loomed over the war in Ukraine.
How would the United States respond?
And with the upcoming expiration of a Russian-U.S.
arms control treaty, what's the future of disarmament?
It is indeed August already, the time for much needed breaks, and John and Charlotte are both away.
That leaves me in the hot seat for this week.
But there's also good news.