President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a bill revoking Russia's ratification of a global nuclear test ban, a move that Moscow said was needed to establish parity with the United States.
I don’t think they ever ratified the damn thing, so not exactly a big deal legally. Not a great sign for international arms control efforts, but, let’s be honest, they have been moribund since 2000.
They did ratify the thing. They just retracted that ratification.
Out of all the countries that have nuclear weapons, only France and the UK have signed and ratified the thing. The US, China, and Iran have signed it but never ratified it. India, Israel, Pakistan, and North Korea haven’t even signed it i nthe first place.
So this entire thing is a big nothing burger. Russia is doing simply what China and the US have been doing for decades now.
I also wonder if the UK and France would have ratified it, if they would still have colonies to test nuclear weapons in. Their homelands are a bit too densely populated with white people.
I don’t think they ever ratified the damn thing, so not exactly a big deal legally. Not a great sign for international arms control efforts, but, let’s be honest, they have been moribund since 2000.
They did ratify the thing. They just retracted that ratification.
Out of all the countries that have nuclear weapons, only France and the UK have signed and ratified the thing. The US, China, and Iran have signed it but never ratified it. India, Israel, Pakistan, and North Korea haven’t even signed it i nthe first place.
So this entire thing is a big nothing burger. Russia is doing simply what China and the US have been doing for decades now.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehensive_Nuclear-Test-Ban_Treaty
I also wonder if the UK and France would have ratified it, if they would still have colonies to test nuclear weapons in. Their homelands are a bit too densely populated with white people.
Google Mururoa, France still has their nuclear testing site in the pacific.
British nuclear testing was done in Nevada on account of the US being okay with it.