Nuclear weapon

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Concept.png Nuclear weapon 
(“Weapon of mass destruction”SourcewatchRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
Nuclear weapon.jpg
A US nuclear test over Bikini Atoll in 1954
Typetechnology
Interest of• Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
• M. Elaine Bunn
• Coalition for Peace Through Security
• Coalition for Peace Through Strength
• Henry Cooper
• David Hoffman
• International Institute for Strategic Studies
• Bruce Kent
• Manhattan Project
• Jeff McCausland
• Hilda Murrell
• George Perkovich
• UK/Atomic Energy Authority

In May 1975, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists reported that the United States had over 30,000 nuclear weapons at home, at sea, in Europe, and in Asia. Of these weapons, 8,500 were considered strategic weapons and 22,000 tactical weapons. The main difference between strategic and tactical nuclear weapons (TNW) is their range.[1]

TNW include gravity bombs, short-range missiles, artillery shells, land mines, depth charges, and torpedoes which are equipped with nuclear warheads. In 2010, the Pentagon revealed that the total number of US nuclear weapons had been reduced to just 5,113.[2]

Official narrative

According to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, those nations which have these weapons of mass destruction are obliged to try to prevent their spread and to eliminate their own holdings of these weapons. A nuclear war involving USA or Russia could quite possibly result in a nuclear winter and cause humans and most other life forms to go extinct.[3]

History

Nuclear weapons were first developed by the Manhattan Project in the USA and twice deployed on Japan at the end of World War II. Their creation and stockpiling was a major element in the cold war. At least 33,000 US citizens were killed by their development and mass production.[4] Many tens of thousands of other people were killed as a result of the nuclear tests carried out in remote locations such as Pacific islands.[5]

Non-Proliferation Treaty

Full article: Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

In 1968 the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) was signed, which committed states without nuclear weapons not to seek to acquire them, and those with them to reduce their holdings. However, the nation states with nuclear weapons are not abiding by the treaty and have never made serious efforts to reduce their holdings. Indeed, "a trillion dollar build up of U.S. nuclear weapons is well underway." In 2010 the Pentagon revealed that the US had 5113 nuclear weapons, down from over 31,000 in the late 1960s. More recent FOIA requests to determine the current number have been denied, notwithstanding their claim that "increasing the transparency of global nuclear stockpiles is important to non-proliferation efforts".[6]

The only nation to have acquired but then given up nuclear weapons is South Africa. The exact fate of some of South Africa's weapons is uncertain, and rumours suggest that three of them were "misplaced".[7]

Connection to Nuclear power

A proper accounting of the risks of nuclear power reveals that its development was never economically justifiable, but was primarily intended as a method of deriving radioisotopes for use in nuclear weapons - explaining a lot of the lies and other hypocrisies which continue to surround the topic.

Alternative uses?

Many alternative uses have been proposed for nuclear weapons, including bizarre ones such as the disruption of hurricanes, expedite excavation, generate power, rearrange the solar system or even to attempt to plug the leaking deep water horizon oil spill. No uses have proved feasible apart from te mass extermination of living beings.[8]

Continued risk

Nuclear weapons continue to pose a real risk of human extinction.[9]

 

Examples

Page nameDescription
Chevaline (missile)
China/Nuclear weapons
France/Nuclear weapons
Iran/Nuclear weapons
Israel/Nuclear Weapons
Mini-nukeA nuclear device small enough to be carried in a backpack
North Korea/Nuclear weapons
Russia/Nuclear weapons
Saudi Arabia/Nuclear Weapons
South Africa/Nuclear weaponsLike the South African biological weapons program, it was developed in close cooperation with the Israeli nuclear and biological weapons programs. While officially destroyed in 1993, the bombs were in fact sold on the international black arms market, with help from the British deep state.
Submarine
UK/Nuclear weaponsThe UK has nuclear weapons on submarines
US/Nuclear weaponsThe US had (has?) far more nuclear weapons than any other nation state and made clear a while back, that it is very willing to use them.
Ukraine/Nuclear weaponsUkraine held about one third of the Soviet nuclear arsenal.

 

Related Quotations

PageQuoteAuthorDate
Bruce Cumings“The United States is the power that introduced nuclear weapons into Korea, and it took this drastic step primarily to stabilize volatile North-South relations. Always suspicious of North Korea's intentions, in the mid-1950s the Eisenhower Administration also worried that South Korean President Syngman Rhee might reopen the war. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles wanted to restrain both sides — with nuclear weapons. Even hotheads like Rhee and Kim Il Sung, he believed, would think twice before starting a war that would rain atomic destruction on the peninsula. In January of 1958 the United States positioned 280mm nuclear cannons and "Honest John" nuclear-tipped missiles in South Korea; these were followed a year later by nuclear-tipped Matador cruise missiles. Soon American and South Korean defense strategy rested on routine plans to use nuclear weapons very early in any new war — at "H + 1," according to one former U.S. commander in Korea, meaning within one hour (more likely a few hours) of the outbreak of war if large masses of North Korean troops succeeded in attacking south of the DMZ. Annual "Team Spirit" military exercises included rehearsals for battlefield nuclear war. North Korea responded by building enormous facilities underground or in mountain redoubts, from troop and materiel depots to munitions factories and warplane hangars. This was a bit of a problem for American surveillance, in that it allowed for a great many places to hide an atomic bomb.”Bruce Cumings2005
John McCain“Republican 2008 presidential hopeful John McCain crooned the words “Bomb Iran” to a Beach Boys’ tune in joking response to a question about any possible U.S. attack over Tehran’s suspected nuclear weapons program. “That old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran ... bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb,” the Vietnam War veteran warbled softly to the band’s “Barbara Ann” when he was asked when the United States would send an “airmail message” to Iran.”John McCain
Reuters
April 2007

 

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Document:The Kiss of Deatharticle2005Leuren MoretInsight into where privatisation of the US Nuclear weapons program and military/weapons/surveillance developments are leading the world. It also provides shocking information about the extent of the apparently quite deliberate and calculated radiation contamination resulting from ever-expanding use of depleted uranium munitions.
Document:Will Iran Kill the Petrodollar?article25 January 2012Marin KatusaThe possibility of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons is largely a smoke-screen used by the Western powers to obfuscate the real reasons for their escalating confrontation with Iran.
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