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Deconstructed

Will the U.S. Ever Give Up Its Nukes?

Deconstructed

The Intercept

News

4.84.7K Ratings

🗓️ 15 June 2018

⏱️ 30 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week Donald Trump became the first U.S. president to meet with a North Korean head of state, raising the prospect that the repressive dictatorship might finally take steps toward dismantling its nuclear program. But there’s something missing from the conversation: the fact that the United States itself is sitting on the world’s most powerful stockpile of nuclear weapons. Beatrice Fihn, the director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, and William J. Perry, Secretary of Defense under President Clinton, join Mehdi to discuss the nuclear threat closer to home.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

At some point, the United States also has the reconcised that they have nuclear weapons.

0:04.6

Their nuclear weapons aren't less dangerous than North Korean nuclear weapons.

0:13.6

I'm May the Hasan. Welcome to Deconstructed.

0:16.3

What a week history was made. The little rocket man and the mentally-deranged do-tard

0:22.5

finally kissed and made up. An embracing Singapore and a promise of peace.

0:27.1

I want to thank Chairman Kim for taking the first bold step toward a bright new future for his

0:32.7

people. Really, he's got a great personality. He's a funny guy. He's a very smart guy. He's a great

0:39.3

negotiator. Loves his people. He loves his country. He wants a lot of good things and that's why

0:44.9

he's doing this. But he's the star of them. He's been brutal to them. He still loves his people.

0:50.0

Look, he's doing what he's seen done. I mean, if you look at it, look to be fair.

0:56.4

If we look past the two megalomaniacs with freakish hairstyles at the centre of all this,

1:00.9

there's actually been lots of welcome talk of denuclearization on the Korean peninsula.

1:05.8

Of Kim Jong-un getting rid of his nuclear arsenal. That's around 60 nuclear warheads, by the way.

1:10.8

But there's something missing from this whole conversation about disarmament and denuclearization.

1:16.0

The fact that the United States itself is sitting on the world's most powerful stockpile

1:21.2

of nuclear weapons. When will we be rid of them?

1:24.4

We have very clearly taken the position that nuclear weapons are vital to our security.

1:29.0

And given that we believe that, it's easy for other countries to believe that as well.

1:32.4

It puts it in a very poor position to be lecturing other people on nuclear weapons.

1:36.9

We should lead by example. This week, I'll speak to a former US defence secretary and a Nobel

1:42.8

Peace Laureate about their campaigns to rid the world of nuclear weapons. But what I really want to

1:47.9

ask on today's show is what about America's news? And perhaps even more importantly, what about the

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