UK Armed Forces Chief Warns of 'Third Nuclear Age'

The Chief of Staff of the British Armed Forces, Tony Radakin, warned on Wednesday that the world is "at the beginning of a third nuclear age", which will be "much more complex".

In a conference at the Royal United Services Institute in the United Kingdom, the official stressed that the "world has changed" and "global power is changing", placing us "at the beginning of a third nuclear age".

Radakin explained, according to a statement published on the British government website, that the "first nuclear age - the Cold War - was defined by two opposing blocs, governed by the risk of uncontrollable escalation and the logic of deterrence". The second nuclear age "was governed by disarmament and counter-proliferation efforts".

However, the "third nuclear age" will be "much more complex", being "defined by multiple and simultaneous dilemmas, the proliferation of nuclear and disruptive technologies and the almost total absence of previous security architectures".

The official accused Russia of making "wild threats to use tactical nuclear weapons, large-scale nuclear exercises and simulated attacks against NATO countries", with the aim of "coercing" the West into "not taking the necessary measures for stability".

"Nuclear non-proliferation has been one of the great successes of international security since the end of the Second World War, but it is now being called into question", he warned.

However, Radakin considered that "there is only a remote possibility of an attack" on NATO because "Russia knows that the response would be overwhelming, both conventional and nuclear".

"NATO's deterrence strategy is working. But it must be kept strong and reinforced against a more dangerous Russia", he said.

It should be noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin warned in September that Russia could use nuclear weapons in the event of a "massive launch" of air strikes against the country and that any attack carried out by a non-nuclear country, such as Ukraine, but backed by a nuclear-armed power, such as the United States, could be considered a "joint" aggression, potentially requiring the use of nuclear weapons.