Key US weapons stockpiles remain significantly depleted and will come under even more intense pressure if strikes against Iran continue at the current rate, as President Donald Trump reiterated Friday that the ceasefire in the conflict is “over.”
I’d like to caution away from underestimating the US nuclear capacity. Not as a way to lionize the imperialists, but because it is becoming scarily common to brush off the potential consequences of nuclear war with assumptions of ineptitude on part of the enemy. Even if there is a 1% chance that the US can perform a global nuclear holocaust (which I’ll just say it’s likely a lot more than 1%) we should not in any way normalize with rhetoric the use of a nuclear arsenal in any serious capacity.
I’ve noticed since the start of the 2022 Ukraine war that this rhetoric (though often used against Russia by chauvinists) I’d becoming increasingly common. I feel it is my responsibility as a student of nuclear science to discourage it, since the outcome of this normalization would be the murder of billions of people, and potentially the extinction of humanity.
You’re probably right but among the things we know, China and allies have access to cheap hypersonic missiles and cheap drones, both of which the US doesn’t have and may play a part in being able to defend against nukes. China also knows how to detect nuclear subs. And that’s not getting into what it has hidden. It’s less assumptions of ineptitude and more “the potential nuclear target is powerful enough to resist.”
I’ll defer to you, though, as you’re in the relevant field.
Memeing aside and for serious, yeah launching nukes would be bad becaus it normalizies their use. Even if China shoots all of them down and doesn’t retaliate, there is now an established precedent. Anyone combating the US knows they will be used and now has an incentive to launch theirs first. Even one hit would kill tens of thousands of people at minimum.
I’m just hoping should reactionaries decide on the Samson Protocol, it won’t be as bad as it could be because other nations correctly predicted how to counter it.
I’d like to caution away from underestimating the US nuclear capacity. Not as a way to lionize the imperialists, but because it is becoming scarily common to brush off the potential consequences of nuclear war with assumptions of ineptitude on part of the enemy. Even if there is a 1% chance that the US can perform a global nuclear holocaust (which I’ll just say it’s likely a lot more than 1%) we should not in any way normalize with rhetoric the use of a nuclear arsenal in any serious capacity.
I’ve noticed since the start of the 2022 Ukraine war that this rhetoric (though often used against Russia by chauvinists) I’d becoming increasingly common. I feel it is my responsibility as a student of nuclear science to discourage it, since the outcome of this normalization would be the murder of billions of people, and potentially the extinction of humanity.
You’re probably right but among the things we know, China and allies have access to cheap hypersonic missiles and cheap drones, both of which the US doesn’t have and may play a part in being able to defend against nukes. China also knows how to detect nuclear subs. And that’s not getting into what it has hidden. It’s less assumptions of ineptitude and more “the potential nuclear target is powerful enough to resist.”
I’ll defer to you, though, as you’re in the relevant field.
Memeing aside and for serious, yeah launching nukes would be bad becaus it normalizies their use. Even if China shoots all of them down and doesn’t retaliate, there is now an established precedent. Anyone combating the US knows they will be used and now has an incentive to launch theirs first. Even one hit would kill tens of thousands of people at minimum.
I’m just hoping should reactionaries decide on the Samson Protocol, it won’t be as bad as it could be because other nations correctly predicted how to counter it.
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I’ve never used Twitter, so I’ve no clue who that is or why it’s relavent.
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