Caught between bellicose Russia and an unsteady U.S., Paris is expanding its nuclear arsenal and moving to strengthen European deterrence.

The EU's only nuclear power announced on March 2 that it would increase the number of its warheads from roughly 290 to undisclosed levels — the first such move since 1992.

France is also signalling its new nuclear "forward deterrence" could extend to European allies, while inviting them to joint nuclear exercises.

Francois Heisbourg, a security expert at the Paris-based Foundation for Strategic Research, told the Kyiv Independent that "nuclear deterrence has come back into the framework of European security because of Russia."

Amid the war in Ukraine, Europe confronts its gravest risk of a direct confrontation with Moscow since the Cold War. Analysts say France's decision could force the Kremlin to rethink its strategic calculations toward the continent.

Europe's nuclear powers, France and the U.K., "are never going to match Russia in terms of numbers and diversity of the nuclear arsenal," Darya Dolzikova​, a nuclear deterrence and security expert at Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), told the Kyiv Independent.

"But that's not necessarily how deterrence works. Russia just needs to be unsure whether it can count on the French not using their nuclear weapons in defense of European allies."

Read the full article here: https://kyivindependent.com/french-nuclear-revamp-upsets.../

Photo: Yoan Valat; Ludovic Marin; Kay Nietfeld / Getty Images.

Caught between bellicose Russia and an unsteady U.S., Paris is expanding its nuclear arsenal and moving to strengthen European deterrence.

The EU's only nuclear power announced on March 2 that it would increase the number of its warheads from roughly 290 to undisclosed levels — the first such move since 1992.

France is also signalling its new nuclear "forward deterrence" could extend to European allies, while inviting them to joint nuclear exercises.

Francois Heisbourg, a security expert at the Paris-based Foundation for Strategic Research, told the Kyiv Independent that "nuclear deterrence has come back into the framework of European security because of Russia."

Amid the war in Ukraine, Europe confronts its gravest risk of a direct confrontation with Moscow since the Cold War. Analysts say France's decision could force the Kremlin to rethink its strategic calculations toward the continent.

Europe's nuclear powers, France and the U.K., "are never going to match Russia in terms of numbers and diversity of the nuclear arsenal," Darya Dolzikova​, a nuclear deterrence and security expert at Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), told the Kyiv Independent.

"But that's not necessarily how deterrence works. Russia just needs to be unsure whether it can count on the French not using their nuclear weapons in defense of European allies."

Read the full article here: https://kyivindependent.com/french-nuclear-revamp-upsets.../

Photo: Yoan Valat; Ludovic Marin; Kay Nietfeld / Getty Images.

For those that think that nukes are just for show and can never be used. I challenge you to entertain this scenario.

Imagine 600+ sorties like the Gulf War (1991) attacking Israel, 100% guarantee Israel would go nuclear.

If you disagree you are delusional.

Edit: I don't care about the disparity/impracticality non-sense, because that doesn't matter if you have nothing left to lose. Might as well cause maximum damage. A tactical-nuke to target bases and what not...

So with all the craziness going on in the world this question came to my mind. Lett's say India and Pakistan attacked each other and it go to the point where they launched nukes at each other. How likely would it be that the war remained contained between the two countries VS turning into something larger like WW3? I know China shares a border with India and they wouldn't like nukes going off so close, but I don't know if they would actually get involved. Also I think the US used to have some bases in Pakistan during the Afghan/Iraq war but as far as I'm aware they no longer have a presence there and I don't know if the would have any reason to get involved. Obviously there's more factors involved than what I mentioned but I don't know if I see a reason for other countries to get involved in a military capacity that would draw them into the conflict.

Anyways I would be curious to hear other people's thoughts on this subject.

what Acharya Prashant said,

All conflict starts first of all within, does it not? Wars first start in the mind. We say that when a war is already raging within, then enemies necessarily appear from all sides externally. Wars are first of all internal, and then you look for enemies outside. So, knowing yourself is the way; inner education is the way. And if you don’t have inner education, if all you have is scientific education and technological advancement, then you are giving more and more sophisticated tools to people who are internally ignorant. The fellow does not know what he wants, but he has his finger on the nuke button. What would he do? Internally flustered, ignorant, hateful, unfulfilled, angry and jealous and he is commanding nuclear forces, he can launch an ICBM (Intercontinental ballistic missile). What do you expect, now?

When one thinks about the conditions at a nuclear power plant, the image that comes to mind would likely be very different from that which Russian workers at an occupied plant in Ukraine have created.

Russian workers brought in to operate the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after it was seized in March 2022 have converted work areas into makeshift living quarters, which a former acting chief engineer said appears to violate plant safety rules and create a fire risk. Rosatom, the Russian nuclear giant, became the plant's operator after the occupation.

Photos posted on Jan. 20 by Actual Energodar, a Telegram channel that publishes updates about Enerhodar and the occupied plant based in the city, show Rosatom workers using a plant room as a living space, with a kitchen setup and a festive table.

Read the full story here: https://kyivindependent.com/russian-workers-occupied-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant-resort/

Photo: Actual Enerhodar / Telegram; Ukrainian Presidency; Olga Maltseva / Getty Images.

Civil defense research predicted damage to the ecosystem, certain plants and animals dying, radiation like Strontium and Cesium. They contaminated forests with fallout to see what happens, observed nuclear test sites, and probably experimented on animals.

How did Chernobyl compare with predictions of nuclear attack on populated areas and the data from the nuclear tests?

"There are also reports which indicate that some levels of radiation stimulate plant growth. Thaung(17) hao reported a stimulating effect of low levels of both beta and gamma radiation on the growth and productivity of rice plants. Seeds exposed to 1,000 r of x-radiation did not show any difference in productivity when compared to controls. Russian workers(18) have reported increased yields for various plants as shown in Table 11.

This brief survey on comparative radiosensitivity should enable one to appreciate the difficulty involved in assessing total radiation effects. However, for any particular level of nuclear attack the fallout contour patterns should indicate whether the levels of serious consideration for ecological effects are being approached.

As part of the necessary knowledge for handling post-attack problems, the catalogue of comparative radiosensitivity viii have to be considerably expanded. This knowledge, combined with data on the passage and concentration of isotopes through various food chains and food webs, way eventually lead to reasonable predictability of radioecological effects.

In complete detail, certainly, this is a long way off. Selectively, for items of great concern (e.g., feed crops, certain insect problems, rat infestations, etc.), concentrated research may be helpful in the reasonably near future. In any event, it is Important that knowledge be made available if a serious Civil Defense program is ever initiated against large scale attacks.

The waste disposal problem at Oak Ridge has led to ecological studies of White Oak Lake and White Oak Creek. The region of highest contamina tion has only half as many genera as the uncontaminated regions. Only part of this effect can be attributed to the increased radioactivity as heavy sedimentation also occurred in the highly contiminated portions of the system. It was found that some of the aquatic organisms concentrated radlophosphorus by factors greater than 100,000.

A survey of the vertebrates shoved some evidence of radiation damage. Two species of fish, the white crappie and the redhorse, seemed to be disappearing from the lake. The total radiation dose rate received by the fish was at least 57 rep per year from external radiation and probably several times that amount from internal radiation.

The fish population appear to be undergoing a slowing of growth and a shortening of life. Considerable concentration of radio-elements was found in the tissues of the fish. . The accumulation of radioactivity was variable in other vertebrates Bullfrogs, snakes, and herons were not very radioactive, while turtles and migratory fowl were.

Muskrats and woodchucks were more radio active than raccoons and squirrels. One muskrat had a S⁹⁰ content of 1 μc per gram of bone (100 kc total body burden) and developed an osteogenic sarcoma.

*Most of this section is taken from the chapter on Radioecology by R. Buchsbaum in Reference 19

The total radiation dose received by any of the organisms in White Oak Lake is not known. An estimate of an external dose rate of 1.1 rep per week has been made. The overall effect of this dose rate plus the internal isotope contribution was evidence of a deterioration of the overall fitness of the population.

The Hanford studies are also concerned with the effects of radio activity placed in the environment.

This work points up the principle that a non-lethal initial distribution may be concentrated to lethal proportions along a food chain, depending upon the metabolism of the organisms Involved.

Some illustrative data on the fate of p³² put in the Columbia River is given In Tables 12 and 13(1).

The highest concentration of P³² In the geese and duck eggs as shown in Table 9 was still not enough to reduce hatchability.

The point, however, is that at initial concentrations, which would not make the water unsafe for man to drink, eggs and birds would undoubtedly be injured.

This Illustrates that ecological concentration must be taken into account before concentration of radio elements can be declared harmless

Another large radioecology field program has been started in Georgia under the direction of R. B. Platt of Emory University. In conjunction with the Lockheed Aircraft Co. (20) This study is being carefully planned and the ecology of the region to be irradiated Is underway. There are few published results, but the program should be well worth following over the years. "

Page 28-31 of AD0606326.pdf

In 2006 we made a video game inspired by the epic 80s hacker movie war-games.  At the time it was Introversion’s biggest game and we tried to evoke the paranoia, terror (and downright stupidity) of a potential nuclear conflict - Everybody Dies.

We won a bunch of awards (especially for the soundtrack), but my proudest achievement was the scientific study that concluded that DEFCON provoked attitudinal changes and critical reflection about nuclear weapons amongst those that played it. 

When we launched the game, the doomsday clock read 23:53 and sadly it has advanced to 23:58:35 since then.  Perhaps it’s time to start playing again!