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That's great. That's great. (lemmy.wtf)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 55 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Just some numbers to put into relation :

| Casualties |

Hiroshima:- 90,000–166,000 killed

80,000–156,000 civilians
10,000 soldiers
12 Allied prisoners of war

Nagasaki:- 60,000–80,000 killed

60,000–80,000 civilians
150 soldiers
8–13 Allied prisoners of war

Total killed (by end of 1945): 150,000–246,000

Source: Wikipedia - Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

[–] [email protected] 32 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Hiroshima:- 90,000–166,000 killed
80,000–156,000 civilians

And modern nukes are SIXTY TIMES more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago

Not just that, but far more of them. And also missiles that consist of dozen of smaller warheads inside

And these missiles can travel to literally any place on earth, no matter where they started, as they follow a sub-orbital trajectory into space

[–] [email protected] -5 points 2 months ago (2 children)

And then, in the aftermath of the decision to wipe those cities off the map, the United States said "That worked great. Let's make thousands more of those."

This country is vomitous.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Well, the US and every other 1st world country. Nobody wants to be the guy without nuclear weapons when the nuclear war starts - the ones that can't defend themselves would be easy first targets. That's what the cold war was all about - 2 countries, each just waiting for the other to drop the bomb they're sure is coming eventually.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago

And we’ve had some very close calls

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_close_calls

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

The thing is, the MAD doctrine works. We enjoy relatively more peace than we had before.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It works until it catastrophically fails. That's the gimmick. You can partly offset the risk by bringing the overall nuke count down to dozens or hundreds per country, but only partly. And how many dictators want to create a small nuclear arsenal these days? It's the only way to keep others out. Which brings the risk back up.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

And how many dictators want to create a small nuclear arsenal these days? It's the only way to keep others out.

I mean, we basically have two classes of countries - those who do not have the power to catastrophically end all life on earth and those who do and sit at the big kids table. The first group is routinely used for dick measuring proxy wars., until they develop nukes and get to join the second group.