Scott interviews Ray McGovern about the Biden-Putin summit. It was not exactly a groundbreaking meeting, says McGovern, though Biden and Putin did agree on at least one crucial point: America and Russia must never fight a nuclear war, since the results would be beyond catastrophic. It used to be the case, McGovern explains, that nuclear-armed powers recognized the concept of mutually assured destruction, and for that reason would never have countenanced a nuclear first strike. But the Reagan administration seemed to think that anti-ballistic missile systems could keep the U.S. safe from Russian strikes, and therefore give them an advantage in the arms race. In fact there is no missile defense system that can truly keep a country safe from all threats, and so we have a situation where MAD has been compromised, without any real advance in safety. However lackluster the recent summit between Biden and Putin, it’s good to see them at least acknowledge that nuclear war should be off the table, period.
Discussed on the show:
- “Trust Lacking at Blah Summit” (Antiwar.com Original)
Ray McGovern is the co-creator of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity and the former chief of the CIA’s Soviet analysts division. Read all of his work at his website: raymcgovern.com.
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Scott Horton is director of the Libertarian Institute, editorial director of Antiwar.com, host of Antiwar Radio on Pacifica, 90.7 FM KPFK in Los Angeles, California and podcasts the Scott Horton Show from this website. He’s the author of the 2017 book, Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan. Visit https://scotthorton.org