Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Issues Nuclear War Warning

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has issued a stark warning to the U.S. electorate over the global geopolitical situation, and claimed that a vote for Kamala Harris “is a vote for nuclear war.”

Concerns have been growing over the possibility that any of the world’s conflicts could escalate into a nuclear confrontation, spurred by statements by key Russian figures over Western support for Ukraine, a deteriorating political situation in the Middle East, Indo-Pacific and on the Korean Peninsula.

RFK Jr., who suspended his own presidential campaign in late August before formally endorsing Donald Trump, made the comments in a video posted to his X account on Thursday.

He based his claim on the recent endorsement of Harris by former Vice President Dick Cheney, who RFK Jr. said “lied to get a war started,” referencing the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which was premised in large part on the belief that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was harboring weapons of mass destruction.

Cheney, RFK Jr. said, represents a faction of the U.S. military and intelligence establishments that “desire war,” and in particular a war with Russia over Ukraine.

Harris’s “belligerent and hostile remarks about Russia during her acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention were extremely alarming,” he continued. “Those words demonstrated that she would be a perfect pushover, a puppet for the military intelligence faction that wants this war.”

During the final night of the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 22, Harris said that Trump had “encouraged Putin to invade our allies.”

Trump has said he would negotiate with Russian president Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.

“If JFK were alive today, he would be standing side by side with President Trump on this issue,” RFK Jr. added.

Newsweek has contacted the Harris campaign for a response to RFK Jr.’s video.

What has the Pentagon said on nuclear war

In early August, Pentagon official Vipin Narang warned that the U.S. has found itself in “nothing short of a new nuclear age,” marked by an “unprecedented mix of multiple, revisionist, nuclear challengers who are uninterested in arms control or risk-reduction efforts.”

Narang cited Russia as a key nuclear challenger, which he said “continues to threaten nuclear escalation in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine,” and are developing a “stockpile of lower-yield, nuclear weapons that are unrestricted by treaties.”

As well as Russia, Narang referenced the nuclear threats posed by China and North Korea, as well as the “growing partnership” between these three nations.

“Any one of these nuclear challenges would be daunting by itself, but the simultaneity and growing collaboration and evidence of collusion between them is unprecedented,” he said, “forcing us to think in new and careful ways about challenges, such as escalation dynamics and deterring opportunistic aggression in this new nuclear age.”

What has Vladimir Putin said on nuclear war

Russia has increasingly made threats, both subtle and explicit, about a nuclear confrontation with the West over its ongoing support for Ukraine.

Members of the Kremlin elite, including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and former President Dmitry Medvedev, have issued frequent warnings that Europe and America’s involvement in the conflict is a “suicide venture,” and that the use of the country’s nuclear stockpile is “still a possibility.”

These warnings have been given increased significance by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who in late September announced that the country was considering updating its guidelines on the use of nuclear weapons.

These updated parameters for action, the president said, would see Moscow consider any “aggression against Russia by any nonnuclear state, but with the participation or support of a nuclear state, as their joint attack on the Russian Federation.” This, Putin said, as well as any “massive” attack by missiles, aircraft or drones on Russian territory, would merit a nuclear response.

Russia has the world’s largest nuclear stockpile, according to research from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, with 4,380 warheads, while the U.S. boasts 3,708 warheads, as of January.

China’s nuclear warnings

China has been far less aggressive in its nuclear posturing, issuing its own warnings about the devastating fallout from a possible nuclear war.

On Oct. 10, Sun Xiaobo, director general of the Department of Arms Control under the Chinese Foreign Ministry, urged nuclear-armed states to commit to a treaty on “mutual no-first-use,” during a debate at the 79^th U.N. General First Committee in New York.

Sun also called for the “complete prohibition and thorough destruction” of nuclear stockpiles, and reiterated Beijing’s support for a nuclear weapon-free world.

His statements were echoed by Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning in mid-October, who said that the no-first-use doctrine had become an “important consensus and priority” in global arms control.

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