As everyone knows the world as we know it isn't quite right in the head, is it? Ever since nuclear weapons were created during World War II and used by the American's against the Japanese which ended the war, countries have stock piled nuclear weapons as a deterrent to other countries in an attempt to make sure that nuclear strikes don't happen against them. Bring on the Cold War between the former USSR and Allied Countries with both sides not striking against each other through fear of a retaliation strike, no one wants their country to be irradiated, do they? Or so you'd think.
At the end of 1991, when the USSR collapsed, the Cold War was brought to an end and seemingly the threat of nuclear strikes was over. America was left as the worlds only "Super Power" and Russia along with the countries it used to rule were no longer considered to be a Super Power as each country begun to rule itself.
Everyone has seen what nuclear radiation both at the time of the explosion and fallout after the event can do to geographical areas, human life and wildlife, just look at the only two cities nuclear weapons have been used against, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and you can also look at nuclear power station meltdowns at Chernobyl and Fukushima. The effects of nuclear radiation can be catastrophic, the area around Chernobyl and Pripyat cannot be inhabited for several thousand years, people are dying from radiation related cancer and children have been born with radiation related defects from people who were affected by the radiation.
Even though the Cold War is (apparently) long over, no one has got rid of their nuclear weapons. The following countries have got them:
USA: 6,970 in total / 1,750 active
Russia: 7,300 / 1,790
UK: 215 / 150
France: 300 / 290
China: 260 / N.A.
India: 110-120 / N.A.
Pakistan: 120-130 / N.A.
North Korea: less than 10 / N.A.
Israel: estimated 60-400 / N.A. (undeclared)
It strikes me that with all of these nuclear weapons, especially with over 3,000 active and that's just counting the active weapons that America & Russia have got, so you can understand why I personally believe the Cold War never actually ended.
Relations between Russia and most of the world have been getting more and more tense lately, most NATO countries have never fully trusted Russia and Russia have never really trusted NATO countries, which is probably why America and Russia have kept so many weapons active. Russia and China have been getting somewhat cosy, and while it's not known how many of their weapons that China have active, you can be assured that Russia will protect their new friends if none of the weapons are actually active. Then take North Korea, while it's known they have a handful of weapons, it's thought that they don't have the capability to launch any and if they can, it's thought they won't get far, but can we actually trust Kim Jong Un? He's a bit crazy, just like his dad, Kim Jong Il, and I believe he'd be willing to use any nuclear weapons he has, and I wouldn't be surprised if he has more than is claimed.
I don't know about other countries, but after the official end of the Cold War, the UK seemingly stopped using their nuclear bunkers and their ROTOR communications network, the bunkers were sold off, including the one that the government would have used at Kelvedon Hatch in Essex. I've been around the bunker at Kelvedon Hatch and a lot of the equipment is rather outdated, even for the 80s and 90s. If I was a government adviser, I wouldn't have decommissioned the bunkers unless the government had other bunkers at the ready with more modern equipment, it would make sense, especially if the enemy had found out where the other bunkers were before the official end of the Cold War, and with so many weapons still active on both sides.
Everyone has been pre-occupied with the latest terrorist incidents being lead by ISIS and previously from Al Queda, people have been shunning my suggesting of a nuclear war, but recently America have moved weapons from their base in Turkey to a base in Romania. It's said to be a move because of increased tensions between America and Turkey, but the base in Romania is 500 miles closer to Moscow and further away from ISIS. With the terrorist threats from them, nobody wants them to get their hands on nuclear weapons, they're even more crazy than Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin, and while I've said about people being pre-occupied with ISIS, I don't want to suggest that the threat from ISIS is any less real, they do present a very real threat, so it's easy to just concentrate on that.
With so many active weapons, a nuclear war is a very real threat, the total lack of trust adds to this threat, so please do not dismiss it as me being overly worried, don't tell me that I should wear a tin foil hat, the Cold War isn't over. Nuclear War will annihilate the human race and destroy the Earth as we know it.
Bunkers at the ready everyone.
