To worry we're going to have a nuclear war

[Tiredmummaoftwo]

A nice lighthearted thread for you all on this Wednesday morning...

Just interested to know how many of you here actually think we might be heading for a nuclear war? Just feels like we seem to be inching closer and closer towards one and I'm really not sure our little old country would hold up well. The news doesn't seem to be helping with my catastrophising either.

It's crossed my mind a few times lately and I'm just wondering if anyone else feels the same (YANBU) or you think it's never going to happen / absolutely ridiculous (YABU)? 😬

Highly unlikely, and not worth any headspace. If it happens then we will all probably die. We are all going to die at some point anyway!

Yanbu to think someone may launch nukes at someone else. Could happen. Not all world leaders with their fingers on the buttons are rational actors.

But it is entirely out of your control. And ours.

So, try to let the worry go.

Now, have you read the recent climate change report...

I think it's unlikely but we are evidently moving closer to war, even if we don't get there. And nobody knows where the tipping point is.

Anyway, if it did happen, we'd be dead before we can even comprehend it.

I dunno, maybe if you live in London you'd be annihilated, but if you lived out in the sticks or a strategically unimportant town then you'd be around for a while to have to deal with the consequences.

Interesting! Thanks guys.

I'm not a general worrier but have two very young children and it makes me sad to think of their future. I guess if we don't know about it there's not a lot we can do... I just don't fancy much living in some dystopian nuclear wasteland 😬

And yes all the dick swinging is getting a bit tedious.

I think a catastrophic event is inevitable at some point but it's natural for humans to assume that they are the ones living in the end times. It's always been like that, we've always felt that we're close to the end of the world. I think it's a mixture of uncertainty and arrogance - we know life on earth is finite and we know the life OF the earth is finite, and mistake the accident of us being here now as "fortune" that we'll be the ones who find out the great answers as to how life on the planet will end.

I think Putin is certainly mad enough to push the nuclear button so can't rule it out. Whether it's a truly catastrophic end of the world scenario is hard to tell - will his military obey his commands partly or in full? I can easily see him launching a few nuclear missiles, but obliterating one country doesn't automatically mean the end of life everywhere else. He has the power to destroy the world, and the will, but are the military so disinterested in their own lives to willingly destroy them?

If Putin goes all-out, at least we can console ourselves with the fact that Russia will be truly destroyed in retaliation, there's some comfort in that.

The bombs tend not to be pointed at population centres, but at military targets. How close is your nearest RAF base?

Put it this way: there is zero point having nuclear weapons if you are not willing to SAY you will use them. Very different to using them. They're a deterrent. If (massive enormous IF) we have a war, it will be over so fast we wouldn't know. There is no such thing as a limited exchange and every world leader knows this. Tactical nukes are not viable for this reason plus China will be furious - they trade in US dollars with Russia believe it or not. Neither of them wants to inherit a smoking wasteland. They want to be world powers, not skeletons.

I'm quite surprised that everyone is scared of Putin. There are much more things behind him and Russia.
He could nuke Ukraine any day but he didn't do it. Why?
And it looks funny that UK government didn't have any alarm testings and suddenly decided to have one. What's the point? What you will do in 5 or 10 minutes? Most of UK people won't be able to survive without electricity power for more than two days, do you really think they could survive sheltering and post nuclear?

I don't think it's likely, and I can't do anything to prevent it if it does happen, so I'd rather just enjoy my life.

I know it's hard. I have anxiety and can get unhealthily obsessed with stuff, but this is one of those things that just isn't worth giving head space to, all you will do is upset yourself, you won't change anything. There is a tradition of non-use of nuclear weapons - we have been closer to this as a possible outcome within living memory and it did not come to pass. It's not a pleasant time to live through, but there will always be periods of unrest. Nuclear use on a strategic level benefits no one, ultimately, it's essentially initiating self-destruction - why would anyone make that choice? I don't think caling Putin mad is very helpful. It implies he's likely to act irrationally and initiate some kind of nuclear strike on a whim - helpful for him for us to think that, not so much for the people panicking here (and paic amongst the general public in the UK that might cause them to pressure the government to cease their support for Ukraine is certainly helpful for him). Just because we can't align ourselves with, or understand, his point of view doesn't make him mad.

It could happen, yes, whilst nuclear weapons and tensions between countries exist it could always happen, but a large-scale nuclear war that leaves nothing for the "victors" isn't a likely outcome.

I'm a prepper and a Gen X-er so I have lived through the Cold War. This feels like that. I do not think we are heading for nuclear war. Lockdown was an excellent tester of your resilience at home in terms of food, drink, personal entertainment and emotional wellbeing. Consider what worked and what didn't then go on with your day.
We may get some further shortages If you want to prep, just look at having a buffer of food you'll actually eat in place - a few days is better than nothing. And you need go no further.

Nobody wants a nuclear war. They want the leverage they get from people thinking they might be mad enough to actually do it.

This worries me a lot too. I used to live close to a nuclear plant as a child and developed a real anxiety about it blowing up, so the news is definitely triggering that childhood worry. Even if we don't end up in nuclear situation, I feel quite afraid of WW3. We might be those people on boats trying to flee to safety soon enough 😥

Good point. I don't travel on trains any more as I felt such a sitting target which I appreciate is pathetic but I can't help being anxious.

I think it is very unlikely OP.

I grew up during the 70's and 80's and people were always wanging on about nuclear war then as well and guess what, it didn't happen.

If you enjoy scaring yourself OP why not settle down and enjoy Threads, it's a classic :)

I have to correct you on the emergency alert system - this has been in the pipeline for many years and in fact the government have been criticised for being so behind other countries. The timing does come off as pretty bad, though!

I think it's as inevitable as the technological singularity and I do not sit in fear of either simply because there is no point.

Unlikely OP.

If you were an adult in the mid-1980s, you'll know full well that was a scarier time than it is now.

There is a docu-drama film that came out in 1984/5 called "Threads" about what would happen if we had a nuclear war. Viewer descretion advised.

I live in eastern Slovakia, 50 miles from the Ukrainian border (as the crow flies).

Given what I've seen (hoards of frightened refugees, mostly women and children), the stories I've heard (from some of the said refugees and from local volunteers who head/ed off to help those across the border), and what we see if Ukraine in the news, I do wonder if we, as the human race at large, even deserve to keep on going.

I don't think it's going to happen. Neither does my half-Ukrainian husband, his parents or anyone else who lived on the 'wrong' side of the Iron Curtain. We all just keenly hope that Russia will run out of money and pawns sooner, rather than later.

I would not advise watching Threads if you are prone to anxiety or obsessive thinking on things like this.

I watched it on its original broadcast as a teenager. It terrified me and haunted my dreams for decades. I think partially because it focused on normal working class families like mine in a “average” small city (Sheffield) and followed the survivors and what happened to them. Opposite of a big glossy Hollywood drama, totally believable.

Apart from a brief period time after the fall of the Berlin Wall until about early 2000’s
its always felt like that.

Can people please stop posting these types of threads in AIBU and chat it’s soooo triggering! Please stick to the news section.

As long as nations hold nuclear weapons, the possibility of nuclear war is there. It's been a threat for as long as I can remember, albeit in the background.

Let's not forget that CND was set up before the 60s and has been running since.

No chance,

All that has happened here is Putin/Russia have now become a lapdog for China, more interested to see how that plays out in future with China taking on Russian land and basically telling them what to do.
Fascinating really and will play out with issues in years to come.

I'64 and spent my childhood and adult life until the Berlin Wall came down worrying about this on a daily basis.

It's very unlikely.