At the same time as US officials are totally inconsolable about North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, and threatening to attack North Korea over it, US scientists are bragging that a test of an upgraded model of nuclear bomb for the United States were conducted successfully.
The B61-12 gravity bombs are a hugely expensive US military project designed to replace aging B61 bombs with a new version that offers substantially better accuracy, and lower yield options. This enhancement to the US arsenal was seen as a big boost, particularly for overseas deployments.
It may also be among the most dangerous additions to the US arsenal, as the design’s ability to launch higher accuracy, lower yield weapons may convince the US that dropping a “little nuke” here or there is an option, particularly for fortified sites that would otherwise be difficult to destroy.
The Air Force has defended the development of the B61-12 on exactly this basis, saying that having these nukes would be a big deterrent because everyone would believe the US would be more willing to use them than their current, mostly much higher yield, bombs.
That willingness to use nuclear weapons on a more casual basis could be a major game changer for the US and the world, and could bring nuclear warfare, long an unthinkable option for most, into the reach of military hawks whose big reason for not having gone nuclear sooner was the fear of international backlash.
They’re already convinced; its just everyone else, especially the majority that feels over thinks and usually can be fooled, doesn’t believe them one little bit.
I get the feeling you were trying to say something worthwhile, except you fu–ed it up so badly it’s not readable.
Hard to imagine how Mazzel interpreted it and wrote a two paragraph response?
… OK. The subtitle of the article was “More Accurate Nukes May Convince US Nuclear Strikes Are Possible”
No may about it, the U.S. is convinced nukes should be commonly used war toys, and just need to drum up majority support or indifference to ‘breaking the ice’ on nuclear weapon use.
We’re living in a time of bluster and bluffing but it’s reassuring to know that China and Russia have been kept completely in the loop on US intentions. And as I’ve been saying for quite a while now, Trump is playing in his sandbox while his generals have taken over. We finally have an article today that has just lately come to that realization. Thanks Daily Beast for your “axis of adults” piece!
America’s main thinkers must know that N.Korea is China’s Israel proxy state to protect and so what appears to be ‘on the verge of war’ is not close yet. Permission will need to be granted by China to allow US military action against N.Korea and that’s not possible.
The other factor that’s not being taken into consideration is that Russia and China are tight. Their alliance was formed to stop just this kind of US aggression. America’s ‘axis of adults’ are very aware of this too.
That’s straightaway the road to global nuclear apocalypse! Here is the cold logic. Once the US (or any one of the Nuke enabled regimes on the planet) decides that using a so-called ‘low yield’ or ‘tactical’ nuke is morally justifiable, all bets are off! There on, it will only be a matter of time before all he’ll breaks loose and we are smack in the midst of WW-III. Good luck to all who think that a short-lasting debate in the UN will quickly seal the question of how much ‘yield’ exactly may still be quantifiable as ‘low’? For a species that has till date failed so spectacularly even to arrive at an agreeable definition for something as obvious and nakedly identifiable as terrorism; to hope achieving congruence on a matter as complex as this, is plain madness! We don’t even need to resort to that timeless argument pertaining to the ‘fog of war’ before any one of the affected nations will be blinded by fury to let loose with all it has in its arsenal to seek revenge!
So the US is supposed to be back to nuclear arms testing is it?
No, not very likely.