The Chances of Accidental Nuclear War Just Skyrocketed

An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launches during an operational test at 1:13 a.m. Pacific Time, Oct. 2, 2019, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The test demonstrates the United States’ nuclear deterrent is robust, flexible, ready and approximately tailored to deter twenty-first century threats and reassure our allies. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Staff Sgt. J.T. Armstrong)

The United States and Russia have nearly stumbled into an accidental nuclear war at least ten times (that we know of).

And with 12,700 nuclear weapons worldwide — thousands on hair-trigger alert and ready to launch at a moment’s notice — an accident is statistically guaranteed to happen eventually.

It was only through a combination of quick thinking, cool heads, and a lot of luck that we have not yet had an apocalypse-level nuclear exchange between our two nations.

But things just got a lot worse.

Angry with Western support of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended Russia’s participation in the New START treaty last month, saying Russia could not accept U.S. inspections of its nuclear sites.

Now, Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, said Moscow has suspended sharing information about its nuclear forces with the United States, including notices about missile tests.

In response today, the U.S. declared that it has stopped sharing information about its strategic nuclear stockpile with Russia.

Finally, Putin announced both that he was stationing tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, and that Russia will be mobilizing its Yars missile launchers across the Siberian region for…