US prepares for threat of joint Chinese, Russian and North Korean nuclear strike

[Alien826]

I'm playing Fallout 4 to get some idea of how to survive after the nuclear war. My advice - hoard bottle caps, which will be used as currency.

 

[Spice]

I'm playing Fallout 4 to get some idea of how to survive after the nuclear war. My advice - hoard bottle caps, which will be used as currency.

Common ammo. 2 .22 caliber rifle bullets might buy you 1 squirrel for the family stew pot as suggested by the novel One Second After, by William R Forstchen. One to replace the kill shot, and one for profit.

 

[Jimmy]

Nah. Everybody always says that. What are they gonna strike? Who? Why? There’s no reason. What would be to gain? It’s ridiculous.

 

[Spice]

Nah. Everybody always says that. What are they gonna strike? Who? Why? There’s no reason. What would be to gain? It’s ridiculous.

There are other ways besides big-bang "mushroom clouds":
What happens when a nuclear bomb explodes in the atmosphere?

The gamma rays penetrate the atmosphere and collide with air molecules, depositing their energy to produce huge quantities of positive ions and recoil electrons (also known as Compton electrons). These collisions create MeV-energy Compton electrons that then accelerate and spiral along the Earth's magnetic field lines.

What does all that mean? I have little to no idea as I'm not that educated, however my brother tells me it's not devastating to life, but will destroy civilization. It has to do with energy and electricity being virtually eliminated.. . .

 

[Jimmy]

There are other ways besides big-bang "mushroom clouds":
What happens when a nuclear bomb explodes in the atmosphere?

The gamma rays penetrate the atmosphere and collide with air molecules, depositing their energy to produce huge quantities of positive ions and recoil electrons (also known as Compton electrons). These collisions create MeV-energy Compton electrons that then accelerate and spiral along the Earth's magnetic field lines.

What does all that mean? I have little to no idea as I'm not that educated, however my brother tells me it's not devastating to life, but will destroy civilization. It has to do with energy and electricity being virtually eliminated.. . .

Ok but what’s to gain? People Talk about nuclear war, but they don’t tell us what the reward is for these countries.

 

[Spice]

Ok but what’s to gain? People Talk about nuclear war, but they don’t tell us what the reward is for these countries.

Well in this fictious scenario, the U.S. was cribbled to the degree of having to rely on China. Imagine.....pretty good blackmail or takeover plan, huh?

 

[Jimmy]

Well in this fictious scenario, the U.S. was cribbled to the degree of having to rely on China. Imagine.....pretty good blackmail or takeover plan, huh?

After the us gets nuked what will the us be relying on china for?

 

[Stevicus]

I don't think anyone in the US seriously considers those 3 doing a nuclear strike to be imminent or even plausible.
But at the same time it's the government's job to be prepared for all thinkable scenario's, no matter how implausible they sound.

It's like a game of poker and chess combined.

No, they didn't say it was imminent, but it's certainly plausible. Those countries have been getting rather chummy lately, so in a worst-case scenario, it's possible.

Nukes were built as a deterrent, in the expectation (hope) that they would never be used. But they are most definitely operational and could be launched within a matter of minutes if the military is ordered to.

In a modern all-out nuclear war, everybody will lose. All sides. All humans + everyone that isn't even part of the fighting factions.
Those who don't die from the strikes, will find themselves in a world where modern society has collapsed.

Yes. Even areas which are spared the nuclear blasts and fallout will see significant environmental changes as well. I would expect that there might be some survivors scattered here and there, and perhaps they can scratch out some meager existence and rebuild civilization from there. Or maybe not.

Maybe the human race will survive in the long run. But it will be "back to basics" for quite some time. I'ld be worried more about the chaos that follows societal collapse then the actual nuke strikes themselves.

The people in power know this. Nobody who plans on "winning" is going to opt for all-out nuclear war.
That option is more akin to "if we are going down, then we're taking everybody with us!"

And that tells you why the arsenals exist. It's like a safeguard for warning the other side to "not take us down" - not even conventionally.

One hypothetical scenario that I've seen presented envisioned a Soviet first strike which was so immense, sudden, and thorough that it could conceivably strike the US so massively and quickly that we wouldn't be able to launch a counterstrike. That's how a nuclear war can be made winnable.

That was also the theory behind the SDI ("Star Wars") missile defense system that was proposed. We could launch an entire salvo of nuclear weapons and theoretically be safe from counterattack due to space-based weapons taking out the enemy's missiles. I remember the Soviets were against that idea, as they were also against anti-ballistic missiles which led to the ABM Treaty being signed. They thought that we should depend on each other's goodwill to not use such weapons, and that any kind of missile defense system would negate that goodwill.

Imagine the war between Russia and Ukraine if Russia didn't have this nuclear arsenal.
NATO would have obliterated the Kremlin by now. That is, if Russia would have even risked the invasion in that case... probably not.

If they didn't have a nuclear arsenal, the Cold War would have ended rather quickly. Some say that the U.S. missed the boat during that four-year winder when we were the sole possessor of atomic weapons. Reagan cited it repeatedly as a way of proving that U.S. had no hostile intentions, since we had the power to take over the entire world, yet restrained ourselves from using it.

Patton and MacArthur wanted to take on the Communist Bloc directly - gloves off, no proxy wars, just go at them head to head. We probably could have won back in the late 40s/early 50s. Now, it's out of the question.

 

[Stevicus]

This video was kind of freaky to watch. It's a mock EAS broadcast of a nuclear attack scenario, although it seems authentic enough to be kind of chilling to watch. I put it behind a spoiler, but just to reiterate, if anyone clicks on it, it is NOT real. It's just a simulation.

Spoiler: Mock EAS broadcast of nuclear attack

 

[We Never Know]

This video was kind of freaky to watch. It's a mock EAS broadcast of a nuclear attack scenario, although it seems authentic enough to be kind of chilling to watch. I put it behind a spoiler, but just to reiterate, if anyone clicks on it, it is NOT real. It's just a simulation.

Spoiler: Mock EAS broadcast of nuclear attack

The only winning move is not to play.

 

[Stevicus]

The only winning move is not to play.

Yep. Don't want this to happen.

On the other hand, maybe a Planet of the Apes might be a more enlightened and progressive civilization than humans could ever come up with.

 

[Twilight Hue]

how does that work

Your wish is my command.

How much oil is left and will we ever run out?

We may never run out of oil, though known reserves are expected to last for about 50 years, current estimates suggest.

www.livescience.com

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Do what you will, humanity itself might survive a nuclear war. We learned long ago (1983) when we studied what "nuclear winter" would bring that it could mean the extinction of our species, but more recent models have suggested that there could well be places where humans survive.

Now, just a quick question: does that make you feel better?

That we survive the Incredible Stupid? **** no. We go that far we probably need to die out.

 

[Spice]

After the us gets nuked what will the us be relying on china for?

You've missed the part about the bomb being discharged in the atmosphere over the US. It only wipes out electrical components which puts the country in dire straits. Imagine the US in today's world with no more amenities than in 1800, and yet none of the necessities of life from 1800.

 

[Jimmy]

You've missed the part about the bomb being discharged in the atmosphere over the US. It only wipes out electrical components which puts the country in dire straits. Imagine the US in today's world with no more amenities than in 1800, and yet none of the necessities of life from 1800.

Yeah, and the United States responds with the same thing and everybody in the whole world is living in 1800. What’s the point?

 

[Spice]

Yeah, and the United States responds with the same thing and everybody in the whole world is living in 1800. What’s the point?

How could we counter with no electric or electronics? You‘re not thinking logically.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Nah. Everybody always says that. What are they gonna strike? Who? Why? There’s no reason. What would be to gain? It’s ridiculous.

My honest opinion of China entering the dance of the omega dummies is it's Xi ripping his pants off and saying to Uncle Sam and Putin "look how big my dick is!" No one's gonna use them, it's game over for all sides. A joint strike against us is just gonna cause a joint strike against them.
Nah, this time the world leaders are just gonna play their biggest dick contest but trim things up and get some bling because we are just too economically dependant upon eachother for it to happen.
China nuke us? We'd nuke them, sever ties and American industry and manufacturing would likely boom. China doesn't want any of that.
Putin? He's embarrassed Ukraine kicked him in the balls, amd those kicks have left his military weakened.
The Kims? Why the hell are they gonna jeopardize what they got going on? Their grandkids for many, several generations are going to live in ease and comfort? Why throw it all away on a war of suicide?
We don't actually have to worry about it until an extremist group like ISIS gets one.

 

[Jimmy]

How could we counter with no electric or electronics? You‘re not thinking logically.

That’s what nuclear war is. Countering

 

[Spice]

That’s what nuclear war is. Countering

Nope.

 

[Heyo]

There are other ways besides big-bang "mushroom clouds":
What happens when a nuclear bomb explodes in the atmosphere?

The gamma rays penetrate the atmosphere and collide with air molecules, depositing their energy to produce huge quantities of positive ions and recoil electrons (also known as Compton electrons). These collisions create MeV-energy Compton electrons that then accelerate and spiral along the Earth's magnetic field lines.

What does all that mean? I have little to no idea as I'm not that educated, however my brother tells me it's not devastating to life, but will destroy civilization. It has to do with energy and electricity being virtually eliminated.. . .

A nuke exploding in space or the upper atmosphere causes an electro magnetic pulse, the same thing as a coronal mass ejection we had a few weeks ago, only stronger. Unshielded electronics and even simple electrics will be fried. Overland electric lines will be gone. Given how much we depend on electrics, it will disrupt civilization for years or even decades.
Military installations are often "hardened" against EMPs, so, such a strike will not prevent retaliation.