Yesterday, I blogged about President Obama's plans to spend a trillion dollars in the next thirty years to upgrade and expand the U.S. nuclear arsenal in spite of his earlier support for nuclear disarmament. I am firmly convinced that even a small regional nuclear war could bring the collapse of civilization. A major nuclear exchange between the U.S. and Russia could push humanity to the brink of extinction. Even though it is obvious that a nuclear war would be disastrous for everyone, the U.S. Pentagon continues to plan for nuclear war. Russia, China, Iran, Syria and North Korea are all targets for a first strike pre-emptive nuclear attack.
Russian international belligerences and Chinese expansionism in Southeast Asia are rationales for the new U.S. weapons program. They would say that U.S. weapons plans are triggering their military expansions. In any case, a new arms race is on. The U.S. defense industry has been lobbying hard for and is supporting Obama's plan to spend a trillion dollars. They will be the primary beneficiaries of that money. They will be tasked with building a new generation of nuclear weapons, nuclear bombers, nuclear armed submarines and nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles. Russia and China will be the primary targets for these new weapons.
Short of a all out World War III between the U.S. and Russia, planners on both sides are calling for serious consideration of the use of tactical nuclear weapons. Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia has publicly stated that if Russia was losing a ground war with NATO forces in Eastern Europe, he would consider using tactical nuclear weapons. In the U.S., Pentagon consultants have also endorsed the use of tactical nuclear weapons. These small nuclear devices have yields in the range of kilotons of TNT to tens of kilotons of TNT. (The nuclear warheads on the major nuclear weapons are in the megatons of TNT range.) The tactical weapons are said to be less dangerous to civil populations because they are intended for use of the battlefield. They have been cleared for use by the U.S. Senate and such use does not have to be approved by the Commander in Chief (the U.S. President.) This has the effect of making it more probable that they will be used.
Pentagon sources have confirmed that they are considering the use of anti-nuclear missiles against launched Russian nuclear missiles. There are scenarios under consideration where we would use either conventional weapons or cruise missiles to hit missile launch facilities and other military installations inside Russia. The planners think that it would be possible to stop Russian aggression with a first strike against these military targets. Critics say that it is more likely that such an attack against Russia would result in the launch of ICBMS at U.S. and European targets. In other words, World War III and the end of civilization.
The world has already come within minutes of World War III at least three times. Each time, a brave military man decided that he was unwilling to end civilization. With so many weapons poised on a hair trigger and possibilities of mistakes, it may only be a matter of time before the human race destroys itself in a nuclear war. The only way to prevent this is total nuclear disarmament.
The U.S. Pentagon:
