America has little to gain and much to lose by testing nukes

Breaking this taboo would set the world back and hurt the US too

- ANDREAS KLUTH

China might gain more if another testing race gets flagged off.

(AFP)

Just as nuclear war, in all its sheer insanity, has returned to Hollywood and public attention, the leaders of the world’s two atomic superpowers seem to be doing their best to worsen the jitters.

First, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who's been breaking nuclear taboos for at least three years, boasted about a (new-ish) torpedo drone and a nuclear-powered (and possibly nuclear-armed) cruise missile. Apparently in response, US President Donald Trump then posted on social media that the US would “immediately” start “testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis.” Leave aside what “on an equal basis” might mean and just take Trump’s post literally. He seems to want to start detonating nuclear warheads again—as one of his former national-security advisors recommended last year.