What Minuteman missile launch failure means for US nuclear deterrence

Russian commentators crowed at the termination of an LGM-30G Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) over the Pacific Ocean, but the failure isn't an indictment of U.S. nuclear weapons capabilities, one expert told Newsweek.

An escalation in nuclear rhetoric from Moscow since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine may explain the mockery from Russian media following the announcement by the U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) that an "anomaly" had forced the unarmed ICBM to be "safely terminated" off the coast of California after its launch from the Vandenberg Space Force Base on November 2.