President Barack Obama spent much of his last State of the Union address dwelling on domestic issues, but he also pointedly reminded Americans that the United States is the most powerful nation on earth. Our commander-in-chief acknowledged that it’s still a dangerous world out there but pinned that on failing states, not evil empires.
It’s true that the United States does not face the kinds of existential threats that propelled us into an arms race with the Soviet Union. Together, we topped out (in 1986) at 63 thousand nuclear weapons. Thankfully, both the United States and Russia managed to back away from the nuclear precipice. Still, the 10 thousand remaining nuclear weapons are enough to irradiate pretty much the entire planet.
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