Comment on I'll share a troubling fact with you if you share one with me

SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

• tal@lemmy.today ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  If a nuclear missile is launched at the United States the President has just 6 minutes to come to terms with that and decide to launch a counter attack or not.

  US nuclear deterrence in 2024 doesn’t rely on launch-on-warning, but on the expectation that no hostile power has the ability to locate and destroy the US ballistic missile fleet prior to them performing their counterlaunches.

  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_strike

  In nuclear strategy, a retaliatory strike or second-strike capability is a country’s assured ability to respond to a nuclear attack with powerful nuclear retaliation against the attacker. To have such an ability (and to convince an opponent of its viability) is considered vital in nuclear deterrence, as otherwise the other side might attempt to try to win a nuclear war in one massive first strike against its opponent’s own nuclear forces.

  Submarine-launched ballistic missiles are the traditional, but very expensive, method of providing a second strike capability, though they need to be supported by a reliable method of identifying who the attacker is.

  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Launch_on_warning

  Launch on warning (LOW), or fire on warning, is a strategy of nuclear weapon retaliation where a retaliatory strike is launched upon warning of enemy nuclear attack and while its missiles are still in the air, before detonation occurs.

  In 1997, a US official stated that the US had the technical capability for launch on warning but did not intend to use a launch on warning posture and that the position had not changed in the 1997 presidential decision directive on nuclear weapon doctrine.

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  • poweruser@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    "Put yourself under the command of the United States, if it is still there"

    JFC nuclear weapons are horrifying

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    • TriflingToad@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Here’s a tad bit of reassurance: We don’t have enough nukes to kill every human. Just most of them. We can’t eliminate all of us even if we wanted to :)

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      • spookex@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        Also, I’d say that odds also favour places that nobody really gives a shit about, like sure, US, UK, China, Russia, large parts of Europe, and North Korea are probably guaranteed to be nuclear craters, but I doubt that any of the missiles are pointed at Africa or most of South America

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• thesohoriots@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  There’s an anecdote about a U2 naming a song “One Minute Warning” if I recall correctly: many years ago, when a UK prime minister learned the US got 6 minutes, they asked how long the UK would have. The response: “I suppose we’d have about a minute.”

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• ramble81@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  Basically why it’s called MAD (mutually assured destruction). You’ll either get the first shot for free, or everyone kills everyone.

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• Zos_Kia@lemmynsfw.com ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  Did you listen to that hardcore history episode? It was crazy

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  • SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Yeah I did! I’m hoping my library get the book. Hell I might buy it, read it and donate it after

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