Part Two of Two Parts (Please read Part One first)
The U.S. is moving a sophisticated anti-missile defense system into S.K. to defend it against N.K. attack but the Chinese are worried that the same system could be used against Chinese missiles if war broke out in the South China Sea.
Because of statements by the new U.S. President about countries such as Japan developing their own nuclear weapons, Japan has been debating whether they should have their own nuclear arsenal. Although Japan is the only country on Earth that has actually experience a devastating nuclear attack and the widespread hostility against nuclear weapons by many of the Japanese people, a nuclear-armed Japan is becoming a real possibility which would destabilize the balance of power in Asia.
There are other nations which might engage in the use of nuclear weapons. Both Pakistan and India have nuclear arsenals. They have gone to war multiple times in the past and, currently, their diplomatic relations have been deteriorating. Pakistan is now deploying tactical nuclear weapons to their border with India and are saying that if Indian forces cross the border in an attack with conventional weapons, they will use tactical nuclear weapons to repel the attack. This could escalate into an exchange of major nuclear weapons which would destroy both countries and cause a huge humanitarian crisis with millions of deaths.
The international community recently concluded a deal with Iran which was suspected of working on the development of nuclear weapons. In return for dismantling certain facilities, sanctions on Iran were lifted. Israel is very concerned about Iran and has said that they will not let Iran develop nuclear weapons. If they think that Iran is close to accomplishing this, they will attack Iran. It is known that Israel has nuclear weapons and it is certain that if Arab nations attack Israel and Israel feels that it is going to be defeated, it is likely that Israel would unleash is nuclear arsenal against its attackers.
The U.S. just attacked a Syrian air base with cruise missiles because of chemical weapons attacks on Syrian rebels in northwest Syria. Russia has disconnected its hotline with the U.S. that is used to prevent conflict between U.S. and Russian planes over Syria in the fight with ISIS as a result of the U.S. cruise missile attack on the Syrian air base. The U.S. President and Secretary of State have recently made comments that the U.S. did not want to remove Basher Assad, the President of Syria. Both Saudi Arabia and Turkey are keen to replace Assad and were making preparations to invade Syria from the north and south last year until the U.S. and the U.N. said that they would not support such an invasion. Considering that Russia is ready to use tactical nuclear weapons against NATO if they are losing a conventional war in Eastern Europe, I assume that they would not hesitation to use tactical nuclear weapons against an invasion of Syria. This could escalate into nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia and end human civilization.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' maintains something called the Doomsday Clock. The danger of an all out global nuclear war is represented as twelve o’clock, midnight. As the level of international nuclear tensions increases or decreases, the Bulletin moves the hands of the clock closer or further away from midnight. They recently advanced the clock closer to midnight than it has been in decades.
Doomsday Clock at two and a half minutes to midnight:
