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Discussion » Statements » Rosie's Corner » So why hasn't any other country dropped a nuclear bomb on any other country? They have them. Why don't they use them?

So why hasn't any other country dropped a nuclear bomb on any other country? They have them. Why don't they use them?

Posted - August 6, 2020

Responses


  • 6023
    Because other countries have "the bomb".

    When America dropped it - we were the only country that had it, and didn't need to worry about retaliation.

    Now, even if the country you drop it on doesn't have one - they are probably allied with somebody who does.
    (that was basically the whole point of nations aligning with the USA, Russia, or even China during the Cold War era)
    And even if not, you may trigger a "well, they dropped it so we may as well" scenario.

    btw - There are quite a few nukes at the bottom of the ocean.  Somebody responsible should probably find a way to recover them, before they become like those WW2 sea mines that wash up on beaches.

      August 6, 2020 2:23 PM MDT
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  • 113301
    Another thing to worry about? What does water do over time? Wouldn't it render the "bomb" ineffective? Thank you for your thoughtful reply Walt. So far we are the  most cruel murderer on the planet then? SIGH.
      August 7, 2020 9:58 AM MDT
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  • 3680
    As well as the thought of retaliation, if nothing else the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki showed the world just what these weapons do - and they were of relatively low power.

    I would not worry about weapons lying on ocean floors, 2 to 3 miles down. They won't float to the surface and wash up anywhere.  Steel and aluminium in them will eventually corrode away; the chemical-explosive trigger-charges would probably decompose, possibly dissolve. I don't know the corrosion-resistance of uranium or plutonium, but the heavy metals generally are long-lived, and they will eventually disappear along with other bits still there, into the sea-floor ooze.  

    Recover them? You'd have to find them them first, though that might be feasible if they are in a sunken submarine, ship or aircraft, provided anyone has the last known position and course. Think how long it took to find the wrecks of the Titanic, Hood and Bismark - and their approximate last positions were known. Or the Indonesian Airlines plane lost by suspected deliberate action in the Indian Ocean a few years ago - course from its last known position, unknown. The search for that did find one wreck, identified as a ship lost in the 19C.
      August 6, 2020 3:34 PM MDT
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  • 113301
    This is a twofer reply Durdle. You are replying to me and also to Walt which is fine with me! Thank you for your thoughtful and informative reply. From your lips to the universe...let them die in a watery grave. I know I'm a meanie. It is what it is to mimic the brilliamt assessment of the pandemic pumpkina**. SIGH. This post was edited by RosieG at August 18, 2020 10:01 AM MDT
      August 7, 2020 10:00 AM MDT
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  • 6023
    I wasn't meaning that the nukes would wash up on beaches ... but that they will be a deadly hazard that future generations will have to deal with.
    If nothing else, the radiation poisoning from the decay of the atomic material may be in our food chain, leading to increased cancer and other problems.  Not to mention what it does to sea life.

    (If there were a sci-fi movie, it would probably cause a squid or octopus to mutate into a giant kraken)
      August 7, 2020 10:59 AM MDT
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  • 3680
    The radioactivity hazard did cross my mind but I don't know how great a risk it actually poses.
      August 7, 2020 1:07 PM MDT
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  • 1919
     1945 Enola Gray drop the world's first atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima. The city was instantly leveled and 80,000 people were killed another 60,000 people died within the year from radiation.... So why hasn't anyone else dropped a nuclear bomb? because we've learned from our mistakes. 
      August 6, 2020 4:15 PM MDT
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  • 113301
    If what you say it true it will be a FIRST! We keep repeating the sameoldsameoldsameold century after century after century. RACISM is rampant. CORRUPTION is rampant. LIARS are proliferating faster than roaches or maggots. Despots Dictators extreme right-wing fascist racists are spreading all over the world. I think if we LEARNED from our mistakes we would never be in this gawdawful misery we are in currently. Could I be wrong? Of course. Could I be right? You betcha. So as usual it's our move and we will keep doing what we always do and that means we are hopeless. Sorry for the downer but right now I'm up to my eyeballs with homo saps. A feckless disappointing species if ever there were one. I'd scrap it and start over. Thank you for your reply Echooos and Happy Friday to  youse and yours. STAY SAFE! :)
      August 7, 2020 9:37 AM MDT
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  • 7280
    Probably because there is no end game that is likely to be advantageous for the country that does so.

    Remember this movie---WarGames is a 1983 American Cold War science fiction film written by Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes and directed by John Badham. The film stars Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, John Wood, and Ally Sheedy. The film follows David Lightman (Broderick), a young hacker who unwittingly accesses War Operation Plan Response (WOPR), a United States military supercomputer originally programmed to predict possible outcomes of nuclear war. Lightman gets WOPR to run a nuclear war simulation, believing it to be a computer game. The computer, now tied into the nuclear weapons control system and unable to tell the difference between simulation and reality, attempts to start World War III---and the computer shuts down because all the simulations it evaluates provides no winner.


    I enjoyed reading this for perspective:  https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/08/05/70-years-later-the-bomb-still-casts-fear
      August 7, 2020 12:34 PM MDT
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  • 6023
    War Games is one of the classic Cold War movies.
    Dr Strangelove is another.

    My dad had one, I can't remember the name of.
    Like War Games, a computer was in charge of the nuclear arsenal for both sides ... but the two computers got to talking, and decided to launch all the missiles.
    Teams were sent to disarm the missiles, but were unable to.
    One of the last lines the main character has, is as the missile prepares to leave the silo and the other person working on the bomb says they need to leave:  "Where you going to run to?"

      August 7, 2020 2:47 PM MDT
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  • 113301
    WAR GAMES is among my favorite movies tom. It shows how easily we can bumble our way into annihilation. Thank you for your thoughtful and informative reply and the link. I'll click on it as soon as I post this. Hope all is well with you and yours. Happy Saturday and STAY SAFE! :)
      August 8, 2020 2:10 AM MDT
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