“The survivor (of nuclear war) will envy the dead” Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev
A blast that cost the world 1,50,000 lives. 75 years ago, “‘Little Boy’ and ‘Fat Man’ was dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki vaporizing thousands of people in split second. Leaving 1,30,000 wounded survivors in unendurable pain.
Engraved Memories
The indelible remembrance of the atom bomb blast still petrifies the globe. It is essential to recall the engraved memories today when the world is the peril of a nuclear war.
The COVID-19 triggered pandemic is already increasing geopolitical tensions between a number of nuclear-armed countries around the globe. These growing tensions in not a good sign and the fear of a nuclear war is lurking rights beneath the surface.
Increasing risk of nuclear war
A survey was conducted in 2019, by The International Committee of the Red Cross amongst millennials; from 16 different countries. Half of these countries are already going through conflicts and war-like situations. While the other lucky half is living in peace.
The survey report revealed that more than half, 54% of the people fear nuclear war in this decade. Malaysia, third-most peaceful country; fears blowing of mushroom cloud the most. In contrast, Syria, second-least peaceful nation; belives to have the least possibility of any nuclear-attack in the decade.
In January 2018 the World Economic Forum surveyed 1,000 leaders from different fields; like government, business, industries, etc. These leaders fear nuclear war as the most immediate threat, the world would be facing.
Nuclear-armed countries
Today, in the entire world there are only nine countries, who have nuclear weapons in their possession.
- The United States
- The United Kingdom
- Russia
- France
- China
- India
- Pakistan
- Israel
- North Korea
Amongst 193 countries on the globe, only nine countries with a nuclear weapon might not sound threatening. But the relations most of these countries are not on good term with some of the other nuclear-armed country.
Can the worsening relationships lead to nuclear war?
The US – China
The relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China is a matter of concern; not only for the two countries but for the entire world. Because these two have world’s strongest armies; and moreover both are equipped with nuclear weapons.
China’s aggressive moves in the Eastern part of South China sea, Hong-Kong’s special status, the US’s allegation on China of unfair trade, intellectual property theft; and above all; The global pandemic have been the latest and most major reasons of disputes between the two nuclear-armed countries.
The US – North Korea
The US’s relationship with North Korea has not been good since 2017. And the tensions have escalated with time. Last year, North Korea’s promise of ‘Christmas Present‘ to the United States; scared most of the states as a nuclear or ballistic missile testing. Luckily nothing like that happened. But if anything like that happens in the future, the US would have to intervene.
India – Pakistan
India and Pakistan, the relationship between these two countries have never been very friendly. But from the past decade the relation have been worsening with hundreds of martyred soldier on the both sides; both the nations are at a brink of war.
India and Pakistan have fought head-on wars before, twice in 1947 and 1965. But the condition this time is far more serious, both the countries are equipped with nuclear weapons. There stands a probability that if war happens, it might be the last thing for millions of people; as both, the countries are highly populous.
China – India
India and China, the two most populous countries, have not been on good terms since the beginning of this year. Recently the deadliest faceoff between India and China has been on the headlines. The deadly skirmishes scared everyone, but now things have started to settle but still, but the tensions still exist.
Why is nuclear war a threat?
Everyone knows about the hazardous consequences of nuclear war; then why is nuclear war is still a threat?
The most likelihood is an unpremeditated attack because of any misapprehension or misinterpreted information. Every nuclear-armed country knows that it cannot use nuclear weapon first; because then it would have to face consequences at a global level, under International Laws. The United Nations’ The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), prohibits the usage of a nuclear weapon.
But not just the laws, using a nuclear weapon would mean wiping out thousands or millions of people in an instant. The severity of the damage do depend upon the intensity of the weapon. But even small nuclear weapons hold the power to transform the entire planet. It would affect everything, the air, water, land, environment etc.
Whereas, the bigger one can wipe the entire life from the planet. Such a catastrophe is named as nuclear holocaust, nuclear apocalypse or atomic holocaust, it is a theoretical concept; the aftermaths of a big enough nuclear blast, that will leave earth in-habitable for centuries.
Such an apocalypse will never happen, it is all just theoretical. But surely, blowing of a radioactive mushroom cloud is one of the few things that humanity fears the most. The result of an atomic bomb blast, 75 years ago should be a lesson to everyone. A nuclear weapon is more of a responsibility than a weapon.
