Skip to main content
Donate to the 95 years appeal
Reinforcing the imperium: Joseph Gerson on the US nuclear arsenal
In the first of two interviews on peace and conflict, Ian Sinclair speaks to JOSEPH GERSON about his seminal 2007 book Empire and the Bomb: How the US Uses Nuclear Weapons to Dominate the World
The Mark 39 Nuclear Bomb carried by US B-52 bombers until 1966

WHILE the media has presented Russian President Vladimir Putin’s repeated nuclear threats during the Ukraine war as uniquely reckless, Joseph Gerson highlights how the US has prepared or threatened nuclear war at least 30 times since the end of the second world war.

Ian Sinclair: What is the function of the US nuclear arsenal?

Joseph Gerson: In addition to providing massive profits to the US military-industrial complex, the US nuclear arsenal has two primary purposes: reinforcing the US global imperium and deterring nuclear blackmail or attacks by rival nuclear powers.

The origins of the US nuclear arsenal and the first-use doctrine are instructive. The Manhattan Project was initiated amidst fears that Nazi Germany would create nuclear weapons to be used against the United States and its wartime allies. The idea was to have a US nuclear weapon to deter Nazi use of the apocalyptic weapon.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
IS albums
Album reviews / 6 October 2025
6 October 2025

New releases from Steady Habits, Jeff Tweedy, and Tom Skinner

ai con
Books / 2 October 2025
2 October 2025

IAN SINCLAIR welcomes a lucid critique of a technology that reproduces and enables oppression, power, and environmental devastation

IS
Album reviews / 22 September 2025
22 September 2025

Reviews of new releases by Wednesday, Suede, and Nation of Language

IS 2
Album reviews / 9 September 2025
9 September 2025

Reviews of new releases by Jens Lekman, Big Thief, and Christian McBride Big Band

Similar stories
The Atomic Bomb Dome is seen on July 10, 2025, in Hiroshima, western Japan
Features / 9 August 2025
9 August 2025

As we mark the anniversaries of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, JOHN WIGHT reflects on the enormity of the US decision to drop the atom bombs

STANDING FIRM: CND activists protest at RAF Lakenheath again
Features / 24 December 2024
24 December 2024
Speaking to Ben Chacko, CND’s new leader SOPHIE BOLT outlines her organisation’s ambitious plans, from peace camps to base blockades to mass mobilisation, to fight the rising nuclear madness our politicians ignore
MACHINERY OF DEATH: A member of the armed services on the de
Features / 14 October 2024
14 October 2024
Overcoming US global dominance is key: the Star publishes a speech from SOPHIE BOLT, from Saturday’s CND World We Want conference