The threat is once again real. The globe is in a state of suspense.
The dramatic beauty of a nuclear explosion starkly contrasts to its devastating effects. Imagine the thunderous roar as everything around you is destroyed, the dark dense smog dissipating down to civilization as you clamber over rubble trying to find your loved ones. The horror here is real, flames are taking buildings and the people in them as hostages, the ground is littered with lifeless bodies and the city you once called home is now a pile of debris and destruction.
United States president, Donald Trump, has implied this could be a reality for us. He was recently quoted saying “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States… they will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen before” apparently in retaliation to the threats given by North Korea. The idea that with the click of a button the nuclear weapons belonging to the US (rumoured to be around 900 missiles) would reach their target within thirty minutes is startling. It is absolutely petrifying that a catastrophe that holds the power of 20,000 Hiroshima bombs could be on the horizon, the fact that Trump is in charge of it all will frighten many more.
CNN’s Political Commentator Ben Ferguson explained on live television that the statement made by Trump implied that he will not necessarily resort to the use of nuclear weaponry, but that ultimately the option is there for him to do so, which is something he is unafraid to do. Whilst strategist Rick Wilson argues that this was purely a defensive tactic to scare North Korea and when the president threatened a pre-emptive strike it was only done as a deterrence tool.
North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong Un also seems to have war on his mind. He was seen in September attending the detonation of a hydrogen bomb where it was loaded into an intercontinental ballistic missile and launched. This makes it the sixth time they have exploded and tested their automatic weaponry, which according to many sources has ‘great destructive power’. It is clear to see that both incredibly powerful nations are actively developing their nuclear arsenals, which does and rightly should terrify civilians like me and you.
Looking at worldwide ownership North Korea are not a threat in terms of quantity to the United States as they are completely outnumbered, however, the quality of these weapons is undetermined. The reality is that Russia and The United States alone own 93% of the global nuclear weapons arsenal, which in 1995 was a terrifying piece of information. Some will remember the Norwegian rocket incident where American and Norwegian scientists launched a rocket which ended up travelling in an air corridor towards Moscow. Russia believed they were under threat and put their nuclear forces on high alert and almost launched weaponry in retaliation, they were told just in time that this was not an attack but really an experiment, which potentially saved the world as we know it today.
The fearful facts of the matter is that we are now internationally equipped to completely destroy both humanity and civilization. It is a harsh reality we have to face, ultimately we are not in control, the powerful few are, but as a collective community we have no other option but to rally together, to give strength and solidarity, to bring love and laughter and to progress happiness and humanity to try and preserve our communities, our nations, our world.
Below are a list of which countries have control over nuclear weapons and an estimation of how many they have.
Russia (7,000)
USA (6,800)
France (300)
China (260)
UK (215)
Pakistan (130)
India (120)
Isreal (80)
North Korea (<15)
(information found : https://www.ploughshares.org/world-nuclear-stockpile-report?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_qeX2rqO1wIVqwrTCh3PrQ1BEAAYASAAEgLijfD_BwE)
