If nuclear weapons were used... (1 Viewer)

[supermike80]

We were kind of tossing this around last night and it is a bit scary:

Currently, according to recent info, here are the countries that currently possess nuclear weapons:

China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States

So the question is, IF(big if) Russia were to launch a surprise attack against the US, would any of those respond in kind? Assuming Russia doesn't attack them too.   Or would they, out of legit fear, NOT...then go through the whole political thing....which would be useless considering millions of americans would be dead.

On the flip side, if the US launched a surprise attack against Russia, would China respond(I would say yes) but would they if it was Russia that attacked us?  I would say no.

I see France, India, and Pakistan staying out.  NK would respond if we attacked Russia, but they are still rather harmless to this point.  They would definitely NOT respond if Russia attacked us.

Israel I'm not sure about.  They might respond if Russia attacked us, but they also might want to stay out. They wouldn't if we attacked Russia.

The wildcard is GB.   Considering they could literally be eliminated from the map with a relatively small arsenal, would they launch?   

 

[The Z Machine]

Any country in NATO would respond in kind. That's the whole point of NATO.

Israel doesn't launch unless they are attacked. 

 

[Max Power]

While Nuclear weapons are extremely destructive, they are also starting to become outdated.  No country really wants to go toe to toe on the nuclear front.  The big players can hurt a country even worse through cyber attacks and possibly have plausible deniability. 

 

[IvanKaramazov]

The US has a pretty robust capacity to launch a retaliatory strike in response to a detected missile launch.  Our ground-based silos are hardened and located in the middle of the continent so that they have time to get their missiles away before they're destroyed.  And our nuclear submarine fleet is a completely redundant system that (I think) could more or less erase every significant Russian city from existence if called upon to do so.  I know the Strategic Air Command no longer exists, but presumably the Air Force has some sort of protocol in place for getting nuclear bombers off the ground on short notice -- even if they don't, I don't know that we really need a third nuclear arm to provide a credible threat of massive retaliation.  

That's a long wind-up to saying that I wouldn't expect France to lob one into the men's room at the Kremlin (not sure if anybody will get this reference).  We can hit back on our own, and if we don't, I don't see why France would do so on our behalf.

 

[supermike80]

The US has a pretty robust capacity to launch a retaliatory strike in response to a detected missile launch.  Our ground-based silos are hardened and located in the middle of the continent so that they have time to get their missiles away before they're destroyed.  And our nuclear submarine fleet is a completely redundant system that (I think) could more or less erase every significant Russian city from existence if called upon to do so.  I know the Strategic Air Command no longer exists, but presumably the Air Force has some sort of protocol in place for getting nuclear bombers off the ground on short notice -- even if they don't, I don't know that we really need a third nuclear arm to provide a credible threat of massive retaliation.  

That's a long wind-up to saying that I wouldn't expect France to lob one into the men's room at the Kremlin (not sure if anybody will get this reference).  We can hit back on our own, and if we don't, I don't see why France would do so on our behalf.

Kind of forgot about our sub fleet.  Good point.  You cant take all those out.

 

[Mister CIA]

Kind of forgot about our sub fleet.  Good point.  You cant take all those out.

And probably a few are very close to Russia.

 

[Mister CIA]

And I think we have nukes located in Turkey.

 

[dkp993]

And probably a few are very close to Russia.

And vice versa as well. 

 

[AAABatteries]

Mutual assured destruction

I feel confident whether we are first or second to strike that we could wipe Russia off the face of the earth if we tried.  I'm not as confident that Russia can do that to us - a good portion of the country, probably though.

Like IK said, I'm not sure why we would need others but I imagine GB and I actually do think France too would if Russia did this totally unprovoked - and I would think current state of Ukraine still falls under us not provoking them (for now).

 

[LawFitz]

If one nuke is launched, they will all be launched and it'll be the end. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise and act accordingly.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

And I think we have nukes located in Turkey.

Judging by the aftermath of her last Thanksgiving dinner I think my sister had one located in her turkey.

 

[BladeRunner]

Judging by the aftermath of her last Thanksgiving dinner I think my sister had one located in her turkey.

Damn, you beat me to it.  I had a good joke regarding "nukes" all lined up ready to go to.  :(

 

[Sand]

If one nuke is launched, they will all be launched and it'll be the end. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise and act accordingly.

The question is is when one nuke is launched from Iran to Tel Aviv.  Iran will when they get one.  So the question is the response.

I.e. good idea to not live in Tel Aviv .

 

[The Z Machine]

The question is is when one nuke is launched from Iran to Tel Aviv.  Iran will when they get one.  So the question is the response.

I.e. good idea to not live in Tel Aviv .

There's no reason to think that Iran is a suicidal nation state.  Sure, they say they want to wipe Israel off the map, but at what cost? Their own annihilation? I sincerely doubt that. 

 

[Sand]

There's no reason to think that Iran is a suicidal nation state.  Sure, they say they want to wipe Israel off the map, but at what cost? Their own annihilation? I sincerely doubt that. 

Funny timing for this article.  They can do it and threaten Israel with it.  

I reiterate my previous statement.

 

[The Z Machine]

Funny timing for this article.  They can do it and threaten Israel with it.  

I reiterate my previous statement.

They can threaten to use it if they ever did build a nuclear weapon, but you said, "Iran will (launch against Israel) when they get one."

No country has used nuclear weapons since the proliferation started and that's because the opponent would likely respond in kind.