ANIRUDH on Unsplash
The bulk of today’s apocalyptic language is aimed at climate change. Politicians and activists alike have labeled climate change as an existential crisis, the greatest threat we face, and lament how humanity is out of time to fix the problem. That is all well and good but that is not the biggest threat humanity faces.
The biggest modern threat to humanity is seventy five years old and does not garner nearly as much attention it deserves.
That threat is nuclear annihilation.
Much was made about nuclear weapons and their destructive power during the Cold War but since the fall of the USSR, much of the talk surrounding nukes has dissipated. The problem is, the nuclear weapons are still there.
In fact, nuclear weapons are quietly being modernized, expanded, and redeployed.
I fear humanity will blow itself to pieces long before the climate changes enough to do us in. Nuclear weapons are still the #1 threat our species faces.
More modern, more deadly, less concern
Climate change has taken over as the world’s newest doomsday darling. First, it was population growth and famine, then it was nuclear weapons, now it is climate change. But we should not have been so quick to move on from the fear surrounding nuclear weapons.
Nuclear war could break out at any time. It could break out tomorrow.
I do not say that to be hyperbolic, it is the truth. Russia still commands the world’s largest nuclear arsenal, the United States is a close second. China has been slowly expanding its nuclear warhead stockpile as well as its delivery capabilities. Even North Korea is suspected of having a few nuclear warheads stashed away.
The newest missile technology is hypersonic and can send nukes circling the globe in a matter of minutes. These new missiles are so fast that they outpace all of the old deterrent technologies. They are faster than the fastest anti-missile defenses and right now it is not even close.
China and Russia have both made great strides in the field of hypersonic missiles. Russia just blew a satellite out of orbit with its newest missiles.
There is a quiet arms race going on and it all revolves around nuclear technology. There is a reason Australia opted to upgrade its sub fleet to nuclear from diesel even though it greatly upset their French allies.
Nuclear weapons could end humanity tomorrow. Even the direst estimates give us a decade before climate change does us in.
Growing global tensions
After a period of relative international global calm things are once again heating up around the world. Russia, Belorus, and Ukraine are embroiled in a regional dispute that could easily erupt into war. China and the west continue to bump heads over the fates of Taiwan and Hong Kong which China vows to reclaim by force if necessary.
All of these regions feature nuclear powers and everyone is investing in their military technology.
China is aiming to have 1,000 nuclear weapons by the end of the decade. Russia has 1,500 actively deployed nuclear systems plus thousands of inert warheads that can easily be reactivated.
Modern warfare is so fast and so deadly but no one knows exactly what the next great power war is going to look like. There have been glimpses in Syria, Azerbaijan, and Ukraine but no one is sure how this new warfare will scale if a war were to break out between NATO and China for example.
It might not take much before the nukes start flying.
Nuclear weapons today are up to 3000x more powerful than those used on Japan in 1945. The nukes that were deployed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed tens of thousands of people each. Modern hydrogen bombs could kill ten times that many. Cities as large as New York, London, Beijing, and Moscow could be completely leveled with a single nuclear missile.
The good news is, these nukes are also cleaner than the old ones. Small consolation to the millions that could be vaporized in a moment.
Do not forget about the nukes
Climate change is certainly an issue that needs to be looked at. People have been allowed to mindlessly wreck the environment for decades with little care. I just wish that a similar level of alarm and fear would be applied to the state of nuclear warfare. Environmental decay saddens me, nuclear annihilation terrifies me.
So please don’t forget about the nuclear weapon’s threat. When nations saber rattle over things like North Korea, Taiwan and Ukraine there is an implicit threat of nuclear war underneath those words. That used to be more apparent to people but today’s youth have tuned that out.
Or they were never taught to listen to the threats appropriately.
We all still live under the shadow of nuclear war, we have just learned to live with it. I’m not sure if that should be heartbreaking or comforting.
No comments:
Post a Comment