Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Friday January 26 2018, @01:18PM   Printer-friendly
from the better-read-this-VERY-quickly dept.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) has set the Doomsday Clock to "two minutes to midnight" to reflect fears of a nuclear confrontation with North Korea, as well as the failure of world leaders to address climate change and other factors. The clock is now set as close to doomsday as it was in 1953:

The team of scientists singled out a series of nuclear tests by North Korea. They dramatically escalated tensions on the Korean peninsula and led to a war of words between North Korea and the US.

The BAS also referred to a new US nuclear strategy that was expected to call for more funding to expand the role of the country's nuclear arsenal. Rising tension between Russia and the West was also a contributing factor.

The "weakening of institutions" around the world in dealing with major global threats - including climate change - was another major concern, the scientists said. They also mentioned US President Donald Trump's "unpredictability", pointing to his often controversial tweets and statements.

We're back, baby!


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday January 27 2018, @02:54AM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 27 2018, @02:54AM (#628678) Journal

    True, but that artillery is defeated within an hour or two at most.

    By what? Even tactical nukes and MOAB aren't that effective against hundreds or thousands of deeply dug in positions. You would need a bunch of them and something to deliver them. In Iraq both in the Gulf War and the Iraqi invasion, with much better visibility for air to ground combat, it took several days to obtain uncontested air superiority. That would be needed for the MOAB because MOAB can only be dropped by the B-52 which doesn't do well against relatively modern air defenses. Meanwhile the B-2 can only be flown out of specialized hangars. Apparently, Guam has those now, but that's still several hours between sortie.

    What you have to worry about is nuclear artillery.

    Or chemical and biological weapons. They're not as effective as nuclear weapons for killing people in a targeted, but they are adequate for indiscriminate killing of civilians.