Why are all of America's nuclear missiles aimed at Russia?

The U.S. has 450 active ICBMs, but here's the catch: They can really only be used to attack Russia

ICBM
(Image credit: (Adam Tanner/Reuters/Corbis))

Out of sync with the times, ICBMs are a singular weapon in a multi-variable world.

The Soviet Union collapsed more than two decades ago, but the United States has continued to keep these dangerous relics of the Cold War on a hair trigger, controlled by officers prone to alarming behavior, and all ready to wipe Russia off the map at a moment's notice.

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Eugene K. Chow is a speechwriter and freelance journalist. He is the former executive editor of Homeland Security NewsWire. Previously, he was a research assistant at the Center for A New American Security, a Washington-D.C. based think tank.