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You are here: Home / Press Room / Council in the News / This is what would happen to Earth if a nuclear war broke out between the West and Russia

February 19, 2022

This is what would happen to Earth if a nuclear war broke out between the West and Russia

Political Director Geoff Wilson was quoted in a Salon article discussing the potential consequences of a nuclear war between the United States and Russia.

The world’s nuclear powers (which, in addition to the United States and Russia, also includes China, India, Israel, France, North Korea, Pakistan and the United Kingdom) still have vast arsenals at their disposal. In addition, President Donald Trump has overseen the development of new weapons like the W76-2 low-yield nuclear warheads. As such, the possibility of nuclear war always remains — not likely in this scenario, perhaps, but never entirely out of the question.

“The fact that the United States has started to develop these weapons again is crazy, and it sends a very poor message to the rest of the world when we have been pushing nations to end nuclear proliferation and reduce the size and scope of nuclear arsenals for so long,” Wilson explained. “What’s more, it sends a dangerous signal to our adversaries that we think that tactical nuclear weapons are important again, and will likely signal to them that they should follow suit.”

Like Kristensen, Wilson made it clear that if conventional war with nuclear weapons ever did break out, it would end disastrously.

“Researchers have estimated that a ‘regional nuclear war,’ say, a couple hundred low-yield weapons exchanged between India and Pakistan, could lead to the deaths of billions people worldwide, due to the effects on global food production,” Wilson explained. “So, yeah, it would not be good.” Read more

Posted in: Council in the News, Press Room

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