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Part 1 of 2 Parts
       When I was a kid, the U.S. and the Soviet Union were engaged in what was called the Cold War. At its peak, both countries had tens of thousands of nuclear warheads, many aimed at each other. We practiced in our classrooms what to do if nuclear war broke out. There was a lot of disinformation in those days, but the biggest lie of all was that one country could stage a nuclear attack on another country and, somehow, come out the winner. One Congressman even said, “If only one person is left alive after a nuclear war, I want that person to be an American.” It has become clear, over the years, that the detonation of as few as one hundred nuclear warheads could destroy human civilization and might result in the extinction of the human race.
     When the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union around 1991, it was hoped that there could be a “peace dividend” because the U.S. would not have to spend billions of dollars on nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, nuclear nations did not disarm and continued to maintain and upgrade their nuclear arsenals in the name of deterrence. The world has managed to seriously reduce the stockpiles of nuclear warheads but the U.S. and Russia still have thousands of nuclear warheads, many still aimed at each other.
      The relationship between the U.S. and Russia has been deteriorating from several years. Russia has been threatening other nations with nuclear weapons for years. They send nuclear bombers through other countries airspace without permission or notice. They sail nuclear subs through the territorial waters of other countries without permission or notice. They consistently tout horrible new nuclear weapons. The U.S. is spending billions of dollars upgrading the U.S. nuclear arsenal and there is talk of withdrawing from major nuclear weapon reduction treaties.
     The area around Seattle, Washington is one of the major targets for Russia nuclear warheads because of the military bases in the area. Recently, Hans M. Kristensen with the Federation of American Scientists spoke of the possible consequences of a nuclear attack on Seattle.
     The biggest atomic bomb ever detonated was built by the Soviet Union and called the Tsar Bomba. It was equivalent to fifty megatons of TNT. If such a bomb was dropped into the middle of Seattle, it is estimated that over a million people would die immediately and more than a million people would be injured.
      The bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan by the U.S. at the end of World War II was called “Little Boy” and was equivalent to fifteen thousand tons of TNT. It has been estimated that if Little Boy were dropped on Seattle, about seventy-five thousand people would be killed immediately and almost a hundred thousand people injured. There are almost three quarters of a million people living in Seattle. Losing twenty percent of its population to even a small nuclear warhead would devastate Seattle and the surround area.
Please read Part 2