Friederike Frieß, Amb. Alexander Kmentt & Nikolai Sokov: ARE WE READY FOR THE NEW NUCLEAR AGE?

Solmaz Khorsand in conversation with Friederike Frieß, Amb. Alexander Kmentt and Nikolai Sokov

ARE WE READY FOR THE NEW NUCLEAR AGE?

The world has entered a dangerous new phase in dealing with nuclear risks, “the third nuclear age” driven by an often referenced and poorly defined “great power competition” as Alexandra Bell, President and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists put it. There are persistent nuclear threats from Putin’s regime and by North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un’s alarming missile tests. Furthermore, US President Donald Trump is calling for renewed testing of America’s nuclear infrastructure.

What will the world look like when, as IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi predicts, there are 20 to 25 nuclear-armed states instead of the current nine, and they flex their muscles more and more?

What cards do the proponents of a rule-based world order still have to convince nuclear-hungry leaders of the threat posed by these weapons, which they brandish like toys? What is the future of non-proliferation treaties and diplomacy?

Friederike Frieß, physicist and senior researcher at BOKU’s Institute for Safety and Risk Sciences and member of the UN Scientific Panel on the Effects of Nuclear War

Amb. Alexander Kmentt, Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations Office and International Organisations in Geneva
Nikolai Sokov, Senior Fellow at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non – Proliferation and former Soviet and Russian arms control negotiator

Moderator:

Solmaz Khorsand, independent journalist, podcaster, and award-winning author focusing on socio-political issues