Britain is closer to nuclear war than you think. This is how it will unfold

5 comments

1. The prospect of nuclear war never really left us, not even after the fall of the Berlin Wall. And now that threat has returned, a grim ostinato in [Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine](https://inews.co.uk/news/world/putins-new-nuclear-threat-trump-should-take-note-3862406?ico=in-line_link).

   It is difficult to imagine Britain fighting a nuclear war with any country other than Russia. It is difficult to imagine fighting a nuclear war at all. If it happens, future generations are likely to look back at the cataclysm as a sheer act of madness that brought destruction that far outweighs any possible gain.

   And yet as long as Putin insists on using force to subjugate Ukraine and cow its neighbours, it is possibility. It is a possibility because human beings are fallible,[ our leaders sometimes especially so](https://inews.co.uk/news/world/doomsday-clock-oblivion-putin-nuclear-threats-ukraine-2103684?ico=in-line_link).

   And because Britain, like Russia, the United States, France and others, maintains nuclear forces precisely to ensure that it is possible. Nuclear deterrence, after all, depends upon the possibility that everything might fail catastrophically. The government plans *for* a nuclear war, even if you or I may not plan on it happening at all.

   These are literal plans, in the sense of war plans that tell commanders what weapons are to be used against which targets, as well as other sorts of guides for preparation and action.

   Operational plans that keep at least one nuclear-armed submarine at sea at all times; budgetary plans to fund the maintenance and moderni**s**ation of the fleet of submarines, leased American missiles and nuclear warheads; plans to acquire new American aircraft capable of delivering nuclear bombs; bombs that must be designed and built. The UK Government [spends billions of pounds every year preparing for just such an outcome](https://inews.co.uk/news/how-britain-might-use-tactical-nuclear-weapons-and-why-3731141?ico=in-line_link), which is the best proof that it might happen.

   But what about after? Is Britain prepared for a nuclear war? Could it even be prepared for such a calamity? There is a sense that nuclear conflict today would be different from the sort of civili**sa**tion-ending cataclysm feared during the Cold War. This is an error.

   It is true that Russia has far fewer nuclear weapons than it did back then – several thousand as opposed to the tens of thousands. And yet, thousands of atomic weapons is still a shocking number.

   It is more than Russia possessed in 1962, when the world nervously watched to see if the Cuban Missile Crisis would explode into nuclear war. And the amount destructive power in our arsenals today remains immense. Even a single British submarine armed with 48, or soon 54, nuclear warheads holds more destructive power than *all* the bombs dropped in the last world war.

2. I can’t see any alternative but MAD.

   The uk must maintain a devastating nuclear deterrent and make it very clear that even if Russia (or any nation) successfully attacked us, the response would be immediate and deadly, no hesitation.

3. There’s absolutely no point in “preparing” to survive a nuclear blast. If one hits and you miraculously survive any standard of living will be offset but the turmoil and destruction which would swiftly follow. Doomer fantasies of constructing a self sustaining shelter will likely collapse as, apart from extremely rare cases, most humans need community to survive in perpetuity.

4. Scam Sniffer gave me a phishing warning for inews. Article also seems like clickbait bollocks.

5. I think nuclear war is not possible because human life cannot survive if we have a nuclear war. You can’t achieve your goals because response on your nation will be so severe there won’t be any nation and the whole playbook of geopolitics has to be rewritten. If civilization can rise after nuclear war then what is to prevent new nations for pursuing nuclear war once again? Its even more likely to happen second time. Trivialities that started nuclear war are incomprehensible after the war.

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