Withdrawal from ban treaties and nuclear testing as a response to threats of invasion and non-recognition of Russian presidential elections
Our country is now in a very difficult historical period; the events that will take place in the next few years can largely determine the place and role of Russia in the world. In addition to direct participation in high-intensity hostilities conducted on the territory of Ukraine as part of our country’s special military operation (SVO), Russia is facing unprecedented political and economic pressure exerted by countries of the global West.
The Russian presidential elections are approaching, and there is no doubt that the countries of the global West will take all possible measures to complicate their holding or declare the election results illegitimate.
Non-recognition of a leader (or group of leaders) of a particular country as a legitimate authority is far from news in world politics, such cases have happened many times in the past, like there - “the king is not real.” Almost always, behind cases of non-recognition of the legitimacy of power in a particular country, there was a desire of its “non-recognizing” neighbors to obtain some benefit from this for themselves, for example, by pushing their own person onto the throne, in order to then cut off very little territory for themselves, get preferences in trade or participation in the war on one's side. Although in the old days there was no talk of any election procedure, it is possible to question not only democratic procedures, but also, for example, succession to the throne.
Russia has faced interference in domestic politics throughout its history. stories - behind-the-scenes games were played for the royal and then imperial throne; the number of high-ranking foreigners near the Russian throne was often such that it was not always clear who ruled Russia - the Russians themselves or, for example, some Germans. For a long time, spies of the enemy, primarily Great Britain, encountered virtually no resistance from our side, which allowed them not only to buy secret information for next to nothing and destroy the economy, but also to exert significant influence on internal political processes in Russia.
The Russian Imperial House in 1917 - there is no doubt that Great Britain is also considering the possibility of restoring this form of government in Russia, if it is under their control. Image by Wikimedia Commons/Shakko
The October Revolution, organized with money from Western countries, can be considered the apotheosis, as a result of which a full-scale armed invasion was carried out in our country, called an intervention, designed to return what the interventionists believed was legitimate power. However, the powerful state security system and network of special services created in the USSR also did not save the country from collapse, provoked primarily by external factors.
Thus, we can confidently say that non-recognition of the legitimacy of power is one of the most common tools, a hidden form of warfare by our Western adversary partners.
Let's digress for a moment from the problems of succession to the throne and talk about the restrictions imposed by international treaties on our country, which could potentially have an extremely negative impact on its security, namely, nuclear test ban treaties.
Nuclear test ban treaties
First Nuclear Test Ban Treaty weapons in the atmosphere, outer space and under water was signed on August 5, 1963 in Moscow, the parties to the agreement were the USSR, the USA and Great Britain. The treaty came into force on October 10, 1963, later 131 more countries joined it, however, for most of those who joined, this treaty is just an opportunity to play big politics, since they have neither the chance to create nuclear weapons nor the opportunity to test them in any case it was and isn't. At the same time, this treaty was not signed or ratified by some nuclear powers.
Geography of the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Tests in the Atmosphere, Outer Space and Underwater. Image by Wikimedia Commons/Allstar86
It is possible that at that time the conclusion of the Treaty banning nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere, outer space and under water was fully justified.
Firstly, this made it possible to somewhat reduce the risk of a nuclear war between superpowers, for example, if one of them carried out a series of powerful explosions in the upper atmosphere or near space, then disruption of communications and radar could lead to an erroneous conclusion about the start of a nuclear missile attack.
Well, secondly, the intensity of nuclear tests carried out by the superpowers already made us think about their impact on the ecology of the planet, however, there were probably other factors.
Much later, on September 10, 1996, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) was opened for signature. Currently, this Treaty has been signed by 187 states; only the new nuclear powers - India, Pakistan, and the DPRK - have not signed it, but only 177 states have ratified it, including the CTBT, which has not been ratified by countries such as the USA, China and Israel.
It would seem, what does Israel have to do with it? What does Israel, formally a country without nuclear weapons, care about nuclear test bans? The answer, I think, is obvious to everyone...
Geography of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Image by Wikimedia Commons/Allstar86
Despite the fact that the CTBT never came into force, almost all nuclear-weapon states have introduced voluntary unilateral moratoriums on nuclear testing - Russia and the United States introduced it in 1992, and the last nuclear power, the DPRK, in 2018, Israel did not introduce a moratorium because , again, does not recognize itself as a nuclear power.
What can be said about the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty?
The very time of his imprisonment speaks volumes - the period of maximum weakness of our country - militarily, politically and economically. At this point, nuclear weapons are the only thing that kept (and keeps) our adversaries from direct armed invasion, the thickest red line that can be drawn.
Risk a decrease in nuclear potential due to the inability to test new and, conversely, nuclear warheads that have been in operation for a long time? For what?
Environmental degradation?
This is absurd, since the beginning of the “nuclear era” several thousand nuclear explosions have been carried out on Earth, and nothing terrible happened; often, even at former nuclear test sites, the radiation background has already returned to normal. Some people are always trying to drag in the catastrophe at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, but this is completely different, there was no nuclear explosion, but a thermal explosion with the release of several tons of radioactive substance, carried by the winds over a vast area (out of 192 tons of nuclear fuel from the reactor was thrown out of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant about 3 tons of high-level nuclear fuel).
On October 5, 2023, at a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that, unlike the United States, the Russian Federation had ratified the ban on testing nuclear weapons within the framework of the CTBT, and the very next day, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin announced that the council would discuss the withdrawal ratification of the treaty at the next meeting of the State Duma, and on October 18, 2023, the State Duma adopted in the second and third readings a law on revoking ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
The first step has already been taken. Image kremlin.ru
The decision to revoke ratification does not imply the withdrawal of the Russian Federation from the treaty, but is aimed at equalizing the existing imbalance in obligations in relation to it. At least for now.
Should we withdraw from nuclear weapons test ban treaties?
From the Treaty banning nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere, outer space and under water, most likely not, at least for now, but as for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, everything is more complicated.
Yes, in terms of peaceful and military nuclear technologies, Russia, apparently, is first among equals. Yes, our nuclear weapons are most likely reliable and effective. But how can you be 100% sure of this?
As we said above, nuclear weapons are the only thing that keeps the countries of the global West from directly invading our country. If not for nuclear weapons, then thousands of Tomahawks would have already destroyed all the civilian and military infrastructure that they could reach - without electricity, without heating and hot water, without gas, how long would we last in the winter, in frosts below minus twenty?
But if nuclear weapons are the key to survival for us, then it is necessary to take all possible measures to maintain and improve them, and testing of nuclear weapons is an integral part of this process, since no supercomputers can replace real tests, confirm the characteristics of promising ones and the performance of existing nuclear charges .
The only question is, what are we waiting for?
Do we want to show how peace-loving we are?
This will not help, in the countries of the global West, Russia has already been designated an “evil empire” - a kind of eternal “Mordor”, children there are taught this from elementary school (along with the study of dozens of genders and the diversity of sexual perversions), so we have absolutely nothing to lose nothing.
But we can get a lot - these are new charges with extremely long shelf life with minimal maintenance (, this is important so that a significant nuclear arsenal can be maintained with minimal maintenance costs), and possible promising “clean” nuclear charges, the radioactive contamination of the area from which will be so weak and short-lived that they can be used in local conflicts, and promising ammunition with the enhancement of any selected damaging factor, for example, electromagnetic radiation, in order to to disable enemy electronics.
Or it could be the development of a new “Tsar Bomba”, capable of, due to the combination of a number of damaging factors, making the selected territory uninhabitable for centuries, because it is said that There won’t be a world without Russia, so so be it.
Rumors of a cobalt bomb may well become reality. Image by Wikimedia Commons/DMKTirpitz
But this is not just about the technical aspects of nuclear testing - because they will have the greatest political significance.
Conclusions
At the beginning of this article, we talked about the threat of non-recognition by a number of countries of the results of the election of the Russian President, which will take place from March 15 to 17 of this year. These actions can clearly be considered an act of aggression and interference in the internal affairs of the Russian Federation.
The countries of the global West are becoming more and more impudent, crossing more and more red lines, without even noticing them and without feeling any consequences, and are preparing to move on - now the “Gallic cockerel” with a retinue of Baltic mongrels is preparing to march on Russia, apparently , I forgot how many bones of paddling pools rotted in the Russian expanses in the past.
Conducting nuclear weapons tests - a ground explosion somewhere on Novaya Zemlya will put an end to any insinuations regarding elections in our country, after which any non-recognition will look like a farce. There is a president, he has the authority to use nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons have been used, you don’t recognize the elections - are you mentally disabled?
The countries of the world should not be concerned about the abstract conditions of holding elections in Russia, but about the real consequences of their holding. In general, in my opinion, to consolidate the effect, regular nuclear tests on the day of the inauguration of the Russian president can be made a good tradition.
The explosion of the Tsar Bomba at one time brought many to their senses
In any case, on Inauguration Day or not, testing is vital for humanity to maintain peace. People in the countries of the global West have lost their sense of fear, have lost their awareness of the threat, nuclear weapons have become an abstraction for them, something that seems to exist, but doesn’t seem to exist. A nuclear explosion on land - with an 8K picture, with surround sound, with models of buildings and figures of people swept away by a wall of fire - like a cold shower, it will clear the heads of Western citizens, politicians, and the military.
Perhaps, the population of the countries of the global West should be more interested than we are in Russia conducting nuclear tests, since a sobering explosion on Novaya Zemlya now is better than a full-fledged sanitization of the territory of the countries of Eastern, or even Western Europe, which we may well come to in a few years, judging by the current trends.
Information