I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 well ..... not the news stories, but my parents reaction -
my mother glued to the reports (which seemed to be constant), of where
the Russian ships were believed to be, and where the USA fleet was waiting
for them. I would come home from school to face parents who seemed drawn.
We even had a school event where we had to sit under our school desks when
the teacher blew a whistle (although I don't think it registered why) ....
I don't think anyone under the age of fifty five, really realises that we
actually were hours away from the end of the world as we knew
it.
Nowadays we assume that the US, China and Russia are not stupid enough to invade each other, but we are not as far away from those times as many people assume .... Iran, North Korea, and possibly Pakistan are all armed and dangerous, and either have, or will have the capability to strike out with nuclear weapons at a superpower, or a close ally, in their stupidity.
What's actually more worrying is that in the case of one of these 'rogue' nuclear nations, there would probably not be any 'hot line' diplomacy, we would just wake up to their actions, and have to either back down, or instantly retaliate e.g. Iran drops a few warheads on Israel, or the other way round (Israel has the same weapons, but is not usually considered a 'rogue state' outside of the Arab/Muslim countries), then either the US or Russia would either have to retaliate on their behalf, or just accept that this had happened, and try to negotiate with the 'victors' or 'aggressors' .... if the result was obliteration for the victim, the question is, would the superpower ally, really risk 'Armageddon' to honour the treaty?
Its the point we would all have to consider when relying on an allies nuclear umbrella .... yesterday Sudan said it was attacked by Israel after an explosion at an arms factory, that it claims was caused by an Israeli air strike .... not for the first time.
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| Cuban Missile Crisis Anniversary October 2012 |
Nowadays we assume that the US, China and Russia are not stupid enough to invade each other, but we are not as far away from those times as many people assume .... Iran, North Korea, and possibly Pakistan are all armed and dangerous, and either have, or will have the capability to strike out with nuclear weapons at a superpower, or a close ally, in their stupidity.
What's actually more worrying is that in the case of one of these 'rogue' nuclear nations, there would probably not be any 'hot line' diplomacy, we would just wake up to their actions, and have to either back down, or instantly retaliate e.g. Iran drops a few warheads on Israel, or the other way round (Israel has the same weapons, but is not usually considered a 'rogue state' outside of the Arab/Muslim countries), then either the US or Russia would either have to retaliate on their behalf, or just accept that this had happened, and try to negotiate with the 'victors' or 'aggressors' .... if the result was obliteration for the victim, the question is, would the superpower ally, really risk 'Armageddon' to honour the treaty?
Its the point we would all have to consider when relying on an allies nuclear umbrella .... yesterday Sudan said it was attacked by Israel after an explosion at an arms factory, that it claims was caused by an Israeli air strike .... not for the first time.
In truth we were a few hours from the end of the world.
ReplyDeleteWe are one tick of the nuclear clock closer today .....
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-34913173
Russian Plane shot down .... Turkey claims responsibility.
Ain't that the truth ..... thanks for the link and comment.
Delete