PH must stand firm against nuclear proliferation

THE United States and its European allies created a stir earlier this week with the alarming disclosure that Russia is believed to have developed, or is in the advanced stages of developing a space-based nuclear weapon of some type. Officials on both sides of the Atlantic refused to provide further details publicly, but it is believed the new weapon is a type of anti-satellite system, something that could be devastating to the entire world if it was ever used.

The disclosure comes at a time of rapidly increasing global tensions, including suggestions a few days earlier by Russian President Vladimir Putin that he would consider expanding his war in Ukraine and attacking other countries in Europe. Apart from Russia, the US and its allies have also recently called out China for aggressively pursuing expansion of its nuclear arsenal, as well as North Korea, which is said to be developing a number of new missiles and other types of delivery systems.

However, it must be said that US-led protestations about nuclear proliferation among its rivals leaves a distinctly hypocritical, pot-callingthe-kettle-black impression. Rather than use the revelations of nuclear arms expansion as a catalyst to reduce tensions and call for the elimination of these unnecessary and potentially world-ending weapons, the US is leading the world in nuclear proliferation, as publicly available information shows.

The list of new nuclear weapons the US has recently developed or is in the process of developing is staggering. These include:

– A new “low-yield” warhead now deployed on sea-launched ballistic missiles carried by US submarines, with an estimated explosive yield roughly one-third the size of the gravity bomb dropped on Hiroshima, or about

5 kilotons. For comparison, this is approximately 20 times the explosive power of the blast that wrecked the port of Beirut, Lebanon, in 2020.

– The new B61-12 guided bomb, now in production, which was supposed to replace a half-dozen older nuclear weapon designs, including the US’ most powerful warhead, the 1.2-megaton B83. However, the Trump administration reversed the planned retirement of the B83, and the Biden administration, without much explanation, has apparently decided to retain the B61-11 bomb as well.

– Two variants of a warhead for the AGM-181 air-launched cruise missile approved during the Obama administration, one for the air-launched version and one for a sea-launched version. The Biden administration tried to cancel the latter, but was overruled by Congress.

– Two completely brand-new warheads for land- and seabased ballistic missiles, the W87-1 and the W93. The W87-1 is supposed to arm a new missile to replace the existing Minuteman 3 land-based intercontinental ballistic missile.

– The B61-13 guided bomb, which has a yield that can be adjusted from 10 kilotons up to 360 kilotons.

In addition to these developments, in a move that received little public attention, the US at the beginning of the year redeployed some of its nuclear weapons to the United Kingdom, 15 years after they had first been removed.

If we make the reasonable assumption that nuclear weapons development elsewhere, particularly in China, is proceeding at a similar pace, this has terrifying implications for the Philippines. As we noted in yesterday’s editorial, the East Asian-South China Sea region is considered a potential, perhaps even inevitable flash point and arena for a conflict between the US and China, and their respective proxies and allies. This puts the Philippines in the crossfire between at least two, and perhaps as many as three or four nuclear-armed powers, and this is simply not acceptable.

The Philippines has long prohibited the presence of nuclear weapons within its territory, as an expression of a humane and morally correct policy that nuclear weapons should be eliminated entirely. It is time for the government to clearly reiterate its position and strongly urge all nuclear nations to turn their efforts away from this madness and work toward the elimination of nuclear weapons. They may maintain their rivalries if they must, but they should do it with weapons that will not destroy everyone else on Earth at the same time.

“It is time for the government to clearly reiterate its position and strongly urge all nuclear nations to turn their efforts away from this madness and work toward the elimination of nuclear weapons.