Since initiating what appears to most countries of the world, to be an unjustified and unprovoked war with Ukraine. The Kremlin has threatened many times to use nuclear weapons. “Soon after Russia invaded Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin said he was moving his “deterrent forces” – meaning nuclear weapons – to “combat ready” status. This has raised fears that Moscow could use “tactical” nuclear weapons – not an all-out nuclear war, but still a dramatic development.”
What are tactical nuclear weapons?
“Tactical nuclear weapons are those which could be used over relatively short distances. This distinguishes them from “strategic” nuclear weapons. In the Cold War, these were the bombs that the two superpowers, the US and the Soviet Union, could launch over long distances at each other’s homeland. The term “tactical” nevertheless incorporates many types of weapons, including smaller bombs and missiles used as “battlefield” weapons.” (BBC NEWS: Ukraine War, Could Russia Use Tactical Nuclear Weapons? By Gordon Correra, 26 April 2022).
After September 11, 2000. The U.S. Secretary of State Ms. Condeleeza Rice threatened to use nuclear weapons against any adversary that would dare to make further terrorist attacks upon the American mainland.
During the Cold War, the United States maintained a “triad” of ICBMs, SLBMs, and heavy bombers in a strategic nuclear arsenal of more than 10,000 warheads. During the 1990s, the United States reduced the size of this arsenal to around 7,000 warheads but maintained all three legs of the triad. The Bush Administration has announced that the United States will further reduce its arsenal to between 1,700 and 2,200 “operationally deployed” warheads, but that it will not eliminate many delivery vehicles while reducing its force and it will retain many non-deployed warheads in storage as a “responsive force” that could be added to the deployed forces if conditions warranted. The Bush Administration has also announced that it will resize and modernize the infrastructure that supports U.S. nuclear weapons so that the United States could respond to unexpected changes in the status of its arsenal or the international security environment. (EVERY CRS REPORT.COM: U.S. Nuclear Weapons, Changes in Policy And Force Structure).
China has often threatened to use nuclear weapons against Australia
“China has gone all out in its tantrum against Australia, with a top academic warning that we are now a target for “nuclear war” because of our submarine deal with the United States and Britain. Victor Gao, who was once communist leader Deng Xiaoping’s translator, said the AUKUS pact announced last week was a “gross violation of international law” that will have “profound consequences” for “brainless” Aussies. Following top-secret negotiations with Britain and the US, Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week announced a deal for eight nuclear-powered submarines – aimed at dealing with “threats to regional stability”. It comes as Chinese ships have been forcing their way into Japanese and Indonesian waters and making threats to invade Taiwan. However, Mr. Gao said that by signing up to the submarine deal, Australia has placed itself in the firing line.” (NEWS.COM.AU, ‘Brainless Australia’ A Target For ‘Nuclear War,’ Warns Top China Expert).
China itself also maintains a large nuclear arsenal
China is accelerating its development of strategic nuclear warheads in an effort to amass 700 by 2027 and 1,000 by 2030, more than doubling last year’s estimate, according to the U.S. Defense Department’s 2021 China military power report. Viewed alongside recent revelations about the construction of at least 250 new missile silos in northwestern China, the annual report highlights a concerning nuclear buildup. Last year, the Pentagon estimated that Beijing had a total nuclear warhead stockpile in the low 200s and projected it would at least double over the next decade. China is “investing in, and expanding, the number of its land-, sea-, and air-based nuclear delivery platforms and constructing the infrastructure necessary to support this major expansion of its nuclear forces,” according to the report, which covers developments through 2020. (ARMS CONTROL ASSOCIATION: Pentagon Sees Faster Chinese Nuclear Expansion, By Shannon Bugos, December 2021).
The country of India is now positioning itself to construct nuclear missile silos that can launch nuclear strikes against every major city in China.
New Delhi: India’s nuclear doctrine and its strategic force posture have been evolving with a rapidly changing threat environment as perceived by New Delhi. Questions of targeting and no-first-use policy are now being discussed more critically with rising belligerence from China. While the Indian nuclear posture has traditionally been geared towards handling Pakistan, according to new research, there are indications that India is now focusing more on managing threats from China and as such, strengthening its ability to bring entire Chinese territory within its nuclear strike range. Inducting deep strike capable fighters, longer-range ballistic missiles and sea-based ballistic missiles (SSBNs) are indicative of this trend. Such increased delivery capability, incidentally, also has implications for India’s nuclear dynamics with Pakistan, by widening the nuclear power gap between New Delhi and Islamabad. Agni V missiles and Rafale jets will be a game-changer for India’s new defense strength, hints a recent report authored by Hans M. Kristensen, Director of the Nuclear Information Project in the Federation of American Scientists. In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Guardian, the top nuclear scientist spoke at length on “India’s Nuclear Forces 2020 and ahead”.
There are also nuclear bombs in NATO countries.
Near steep vineyards of Riesling grapes, in an underground vault at an air force base in western Germany, sits an American nuclear bomb. More than one of them, actually. Each bomb is about the length of two refrigerators laid down end to end and as heavy as the average adult male musk ox. The bombs are slender and pointy and little more than a foot wide. Experts estimate that there are about 100 such bombs stored among five NATO countries, ready to be loaded on jets and dropped by the United States and its allies — old-school style, parachute and all — toward an enemy target. One version of this bomb can carry the explosive equivalent of 11 Hiroshimas. The bomb’s family name is B61. Over the past half-century, in various modifications, B61s have been sent to Europe to deter Russia and reassure the NATO alliance, and they remain there for those reasons. Scenarios for their detonation seem far-fetched — but perhaps not as far-fetched as they seemed a month ago. As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggers another round of anxiety about World War III, the B61 remains the only U.S. nuclear weapons system based in Europe, a forward-deployed reassurance for NATO at a time when Russian President Vladimir Putin is rattling his own nuclear saber. (THE WASHINGTON POST: Meet The Nukes The U.S. Keeps In Europe, Waiting Not To Be Used, By Dan Zak, March 25, 2022).
These doomsday weapons are among the mind-boggling and mind benumbing phenomena of the twenty-first century. They cannot be simply wished away. Because they are the ultimate revelation of the depths of human wickedness. After years of painstaking negotiations by military experts from Europe and North America these weapons of mass destruction are their fait accompli. What a disappointment! What a sad commentary upon human failure! All these nukes await the time when some mad man decides to make the first strike against some perceived enemy. At that time the curtains will inexorably fall on human history. The fact that this has not already occurred is a wonderful mystery. Just like a time bomb these weapons of mass extermination are sitting in the very heart of human civilization.
Obviously, it’s not enough for the Human Race to be under constant threat of annihilation by volcanic eruptions or meteoric strikes from outer space. We also have to contend with the fearsome possibility of a nuclear holocaust. Which if it occurs would be equally devastatingly catastrophic to all living things on this planet. How exactly did we arrive at this juncture? Are we to conclude that this triad of possible destructive alternatives is completely accidental. If we rush to such a rash conclusion, then our solar system’s very existence and the orderly movement of the planets around the sun must also be completely coincidental. No sensible person who engages in rational thought would countenance such a reckless assessment. Is it at all possible that these frightening possibilities have been organized/permitted by a transcendent, all-knowing omnipotent God?
(TO BE CONTINUED).
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