Geoffrey Miller: Geopolitical Analyst discusses Trump's nuclear testing comment

Is Donald Trump testing the limits with his latest nuclear weapon testing comment?

The US President posted on social media - saying he has no choice but to restart testing, because of other countries testing programs.

If the US follows through it'd mark the first official nuclear weapon testing - apart from North Korea - this century.

Geopolitical Analyst Geoffrey Miller told Francesca Rudkin that it's part of Trump's game.

He says he's constantly playing this game of brinkmanship, where he'll go right to the brink before pulling back.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Donald Trump is playing the nuke card. The US president
has ordered his Department of Defense slash Water immediately begin
nuclear weapons testing, something that the US hasn't done since
the nineties. Foreign policy analyst Jeffrey Millet is with me now.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good morning, Jeffrey, Good morning, Francesca.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
He said, this is a warning shot to his enemies.
Who are we talking about here, China, Russia.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Or both of them? I think, Francesca, and you know,
you can say, well, this is the typical saber rattling
of the Trump presidency, and this is the world that
we live in. But I think we need to be aware, heir,
of the power of a nuclear conflict. I think we've
largely forgotten or underappreciated the nuclear dimension in these constant

(00:42):
geopolitical tensions. But you've got to remember that the US
and Russia both still have over five thousand nuclear warheads outs,
well down from the peaks of the Cold War. But
if we suddenly see them back nuclear testing, that would
be the first time since the mid nineteen nineties that
we've seen China, Russia in the United States testing nuclear weapons,
and that could be well on the cards. So I

(01:03):
think we really need to dive back the tensions here,
because this is more than just a typical Trump outburst
on social media, and nuclear weapons can have real consequences
and we certainly have seen that in history.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
So you think that there is a possibility he will
actually begin nuclear tests again.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yes, So the escalation is in play, isn't it. And
we've seen this in so many dimensions now over the
past few years. I mean, the world is a much
scarier place now than it was. And we've seen the
nuclear dimension come into play in the war in Ukraine,
for example, that the superregion nuclear partner has come under
attack numerous times in the war between Russia, Russia and Ukraine.

(01:44):
We saw that war between India and Pakistan earlier in
the year. Two nuclear powers. They conducted a nuclear test
back in nineteen ninety eight, but since then it's only
been North Korea that has tested nuclear weapons. We've got
a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty that was agreed in
the mid nineties, but China, Russia in the United States

(02:05):
have not ratified that. Well, Russia did ratify it and
then pulled out a couple of years ago. The United
States and China have never ratified that treaty. So we
need to, I think, step back from the brink here.
And that's the game that Donald Trump is playing constantly,
This game of brinksmanship, when you go right to the
brink of war, then you pull back in declear victory.

(02:26):
It is, I think, a scary way to do politics,
a scary way to do geopolitics. It is Trump's game.
We've seen that very successful meeting over between Donald Trump
and Gjingping that has come out with a deal. I
mean that's a good news story. But you wonder what
will come next week or next month with Donald Trump.
I mean, nothing is really ever set in stone, and

(02:47):
you never know how long it's going to be before
he changes his mind.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
Jeffrey Miller, thank you so much. Always appreciate your thoughts.
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