Rogue States: Nuclear Red-Herrings
by Bruce G. Blair, Ph.D, President of the Center for Defense Information

The United States and Russia currently possess 96 percent of the world’s total inventory of 30,000 nuclear weapons. Most of the rest belong to U.S. allies and friends – Britain, France and Israel. The combined arsenals of Pakistan and India, with whom the United States enjoys reasonable relations, represent a small fraction of 1 percent. That leaves China, hardly an enemy, whose 1 percent of the world total includes 20 long-range missiles that could hit the United States (compared to 6,000-plus U.S. nuclear weapons that could reach China today). Then there is North Korea, which maybe has a couple of weapons but no missiles or planes capable of dropping them on U.S. targets. The other proliferant states of concern – notably Iran – do not yet possess a single nuclear bomb.

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