On the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, there is renewed focus on nuclear weapons in international security. China and other nuclear-armed states within Australia’s extended region are expanding their arsenals, with little to no arms control measures in place. This is intensifying Australia’s reliance on extended nuclear deterrence from the United States, though nuclear threats to Australia remain less acute than those to Japan or South Korea. This new nuclear era is more dangerous than the relatively straightforward deterrence dynamics of the Cold War: today, there are more nuclear players, and interactions between them are more complex. Threats of nuclear use are on the rise, particularly from Russia and North Korea—countries that are cooperating more closely with each other and with China. Their declared thresholds for nuclear use appear to be lowering and are being deliberately blurred.
Nuclear weapons hang in a complex balance (Euan Graham – ASPI The Strategist)
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