Originally posted by 2012newstart
how many nuclear bombs could destroy all life on Earth? Or how many megatons? In the past we've been told USSR could destroy all life on earth 15
times over, while USA "only" 8 times...Tsar Bomb 100 megaton enough for making nuclear winter alone....How about today? Anyone with more specific
knowledge in the matter?
How for example all life will be destroyed, if the total amount of all warheads and megatons cannot cover the entire surface with fallout? Perhaps
other factors are included, as a nuclear winter, or mega quakes.
Authoritative studies in UK as far back as the mid 1950's concluded that ordinary life in UK would be made untenable by the detonation of
as few
as 10 nuclear weapons on that island. That's because survivors would have to stay under cover for two weeks to avoid the worst of the fall out.
That's before you even consider the appalling damage & loss of life in the target areas.
The USA, being physically larger, might be able to struggle on if hit by 10 nuclear weapons. But 20, 30 ? Normal life would just cease for many,
people would have to hunker down in their basements.
Even if the Northern hemisphere had an all out nuclear war, life would still go on for those in the South. I don't think the "On The Beach"
scenario would happen (of fallout travelling south, killing everyone). Instead I think the fallout would come to earth, much of it being carried away
by the action of the weather, down into the drains & sewers and back to the oceans. The fires will extinguish, the smoke and ash will slowly clear
from the skies, the normal actions of nature will start to take back the devastated towns and cities (see photos of Pripyat today, the town near
Chernobyl ... plants and trees are taking the town over). Life will go on, but not for everyone.
As to the topic, I've been reading this morning about the rioting outside the Japanese embassy in Beijing. The European media is reporting this
widely, it's not as widely reported in the English speaking world for some reason, you have to hunt the story down.
I have to be honest, I'm not one to worry or panic unnecessarily, I served in the RAF in the 1980's and have the reputation for being quite a stoic
individual, one who doesn't get alarmed.
But I'm
really starting to have concerns about the way the world is going. The USA is normally the anchor on which we've all relied. But the
policy drift in the White House, the complete lack of direction, it reminds me of the late 1970's when events combined and overwhelmed President
Carter's administration. At least then there was a man waiting in the wings to give direction. Today there's no such alternative. The USA is weak
and everyone knows it. It's on it's knees politically, it's people are divided as never before. Economically it's a total basket case. For all
recent attention has been on the EU, it's the USA itself which is about to bring the financial house of cards down. And the USA has lost all moral
authority too, this nation which liberated much of the world in the 1940's is now responsible for some of the worst crimes in living memory.
Against that, there's huge political and economic upheaval in China, with all the trouble that will bring with ongoing territorial disputes in the
East China Seas. The Arab world is aflame with these stupid youtube videos which cause so much contrived outrage, with religious extremists from many
faiths using the electronic media to bait others. Afghanistan still takes the lives of our young men, so many lives lost because they can't fight
wars as wars should be fought, their hands are tied behind their backs with tortuous rules of engagement which only a Philadelphia lawyer could
successfully negotiate. I despair about how we treat those guys, I despair about our decision to even send them out there in the first place.
The chills are running through me, this feels so much like 1979 over again.