*trigger warning* Nuclear War - Is it more likely than you thought?

[dreamofalightahead]

Weeks ago I would've said, no, very unlikely to ever happen at all. Nobody wins, etc etc

Recent events, none I can even pinpoint, give me a different feel and I suddenly think it's more likely to happen soon than I did weeks ago

What does everyone else think?

Nothing surprises me anymore. Maybe it will happen, maybe it won't. But there's fuck all I can do about it so I'm not going to worry about it.

What are you counting as nuclear war? A massive nuclear world ending thing or small nuclear weapons being used?

Good question

For this specific question, I mean a country as 'civilised' as England being nuked into the ground with massive fall out for anyone not hit in the initial blast

I have no idea. It’s always been possible. We can’t help what a dictator in North Korea chooses to do. If we think we can then we’re kidding ourselves. We have far less control over our own lives than we’d like to believe.

I didn't think North Korea were interested in us... my thoughts we're Russia I suppose

Also it isn't up to just the dictator. Their lower people have to actually agree and then see their own families potentially go poof

Who would want that? It isn't one persons decision is it?

I don't think it's going to be MAD, mutually assured destruction. I do think there will be some nukes at some point.

Countries that have bunkers as standard in their cellars are advising their citizens to consider them, Russia are for starters.

Countries like ours without bunkers in our homed are trying to keep their population calm.

There isn't anything practical we can do.

I think about it often. I got quite upset about it last year when the war in Ukraine broke out, but I've decided there's fuck all we can do anyway, all we can hope is that if it did come to that (and I do believe it's unlikely) we'd have a quick end with no time to think about it.
We're all going to die someday, it's inevitable. I'd hate to live in a fall out scenario though

If it got to Buckets of Sunshine being thrown around, today’s problems would be trivial

Nothing I can do about it, so don’t think or worry about it

Works for me 👍👍

If you're concerned because of tactical nukes being placed in Belarus then don't be.

They don't need to be in Belarus to be used in Ukraine or any where else come to that so it doesn't make any difference to how likely they are to be used.

It's all about a show of solidarity between Russia and Belarus (with some reluctance from the Belarus side).

Is this the daily, 'We're all going to die!" thread? No, I don't.

Problem is, for millions it won't be a quick end at all. It'll be slow and painful

Being in the initial blast is like being shot, you won't register it. But to die burning, to die of starvation and fallout pollution... that's another matter entirely

The threats from Poo-tin about a strike on the UK is political rather than physical.

We're a strong supporter of Ukraine

We're somewhat politically distanced from the EU so easier to single out.

Our Gov is flat lining in the polls and may be persuaded to change tack by a fearful population.

It all means nothing, we have our own nukes, we're a major NATO member. A strike on the UK immediately becomes MAD

Have l missed something?

l know nothing about our fab gov trying to keep us calm. Nor about Russians been told to use cellars.

surplus has nailed it.

https://fb.watch/jz12p9z3nr/

This really opened my eyes

Starting to get a bit suspicious of your motives here OP.

I’ve looked on the news. There’s more concern about the threat level in NI.

As for Belarus. Does it matter where they put their dicks missives? I haven’t even registered it.

It all means nothing, we have our own nukes, we're a major NATO member. A strike on the UK immediately becomes MAD

What if Russia Nuke us and then the rest of the NATO members with nukes actually think 'you know what, we'll leave it there. We won't retaliate. Rather have a tiny chance of surviving thanks'

nope, can’t say I feel worried. Can I ask how old you are @dreamofalightahead? I am late 40s and nuclear war feels far less of a threat to me now than it did in my childhood/teens. I’d be interested to know if others who remember the 80s feel similarly.

@museumum I'm 24 so naive at best

I was a child/teen of the 80s.
I think that the powers that be are a lot less foolish than they seemed then, when it was all about bravado and a lack of understanding of the potential ramifications.
Except Putin, who might be mentally ill. We can only hope that at some point someone either prevents him pressing an irretrievable button or disconnects thee we button before he presses it.
I'm still less worried that 30 years ago when everyone in power was a potential annihilator.

@museumum I was a child in the 80s too. Then I was worried. This feels nothing like those days to me. I worry about a lot of things, but nuclear war isn't one of them.

No, very unlikely.

Nuclear weapons are a d* waving contest. Whilst Russian has a significant number; NATO combined arsenal matches.

Nobody wants a red button war, things like cyber attacks and espionage are more likely to affect us.

It's not currently as close/imminent as it was in 1983, but the public didn't get to learn about either of the incidents that occurred until much later.