In the age of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, the possible use of nuclear weapons has, horrifyingly, crawled from the dustbin of history.
In 2012, science historian Alex Wellerstein created NUKEMAP, an online tool that lets users pick a place, pick a type of nuclear weapon, and click a red button that says “detonate” to see the devastating results.
The United States is not prepared to deal with an attack by a terrorist group using an improvised nuclear device, the author says. It should get prepared, because the risk is real even if the probability is low, and doing so could save a great many lives.
The public perception that there is no hope for surviving a nuclear attack has been an impediment to planning for the aftermath of such disasters.
During the past decade, computer models have predicted that the physical impacts of a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan, or even a single strike on a large city, would be devastating.
J. LuikT. Jermalavičius
The specter of nuclear war in Europe has returned under the regime of Vladimir Putin in Russia. Russia’s large-scale exercises incorporate the scenarios of a limited nuclear strike against NATO as part of Moscow’s “escalation to de-escalate” concept.
…MORE
Related
Hiroshima marks 70th anniversary of atomic bombing
US Military Eyes New Mini-Nukes for 21st-Century Deterrence
72 ans après Hiroshima, le Japon se recueille
The Whispering Leaves of the Ginkgo Trees -Ariel Dorfman
