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

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.

The US last tested a live warhead in 1992. Since the 1990s, however, only one country has exploded fission bombs (North Korea, six times). The world’s eight other nuclear powers have instead abided by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which 187 countries have signed. Because the US, Russia, China and several others have yet to ratify the treaty, it isn't technically in force. But for three decades, a de facto moratorium on testing has held up. It represents one of the so-called nuclear taboos meant to preserve stability.