Nightmare Scenario: WW III
The shadow of a nuclear World War III falls across planet Earth again
As a grade school aged child growing up in the 1980s, we lived under the threat of nuclear annihilation daily. Not only did we have the constant bombardment of that threat from the daily news, but we also had it in our entertainment. In the 1980s, we all joked about “pressing the big red button” which launches all the nukes to start World War III and ultimately ends the world. We had movies like “Red Dawn”, “Mad Max: the Road Warrior” and “Damnation Alley” which scared me to death as a child. The movie that really shook the world was “The Day After” which was a realistic depiction of nuclear war between the United States and Russia. You can watch it for FREE on YouTube below.
Up until then, the true realities of the horror a nuclear holocaust were never shown with such detail in terms of the loss of human life for the time. With the memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki only a little under four decades past, the consequences of the actions of our government and the terrible fate of the innocent victims of those two bombs had faded into the history books. As the shadow of another nuclear conflict started falling across the planet, some brave people decided to flip the script and put the ugly face of horror back on such a terrible decision that can be caused by the press of a few buttons.
In Annie Jacobsen’s new book, “Nuclear War: A Scenario”, she tells the story about President Ronald Reagan being advised by his advisors not to watch the film “The Day After.” After watching it on television, President Reagan’s stance on the Cold War changed literally overnight. This change of heart led to a de-escalation of tensions between the USA and USSR. Ultimately, the USSR fell and the threat was over, for a while at least. The reality of the movie was starkly put that no one wins in this scenario of World War III and nuclear annihilation.
Albert Einstein reportedly said he didn’t know what specific weapon would be used in World War III but "World War IV would be fought with sticks and stones." Our next nightmare scenario that we’re going to explore is World War III and what that will look like for humanity. Get ready for another cheery ride down the rabbit hole!
Our Worst-Case Scenario: World War III – Nuclear War
We don’t have to explore the motivation for such a war in our times. Just turn on the television and it’s all laid out for us to see. The worst thing that can happen to the world is having a nihilistic madman as a leader of a nuclear capable country with the decision-making ability to launch nukes at their enemies. It only takes one to start the dominos falling worldwide. If your heart hasn’t skipped a beat yet, then you aren’t aware that we’ve already got this situation happening.
You may be skeptical about this. Though Russia’s President Putin may be rattling the nuclear saber about using tactical nukes in Ukraine, they all know that all the fallout from such missiles will be carried in the winds back to Russia as far as Moscow, which hurts themselves more than anyone else. But, a man who feels backed into a corner will do almost anything if he thinks he is going to lose.
But President Putin is not the only leader feeling backed into a corner. China, North Korea and Iran are feeling the pressure of the United States and their allies across the world. Our world is one dictator’s paranoid delusion away from a nuclear missile being fired at the United States territory for everything to end life as we know it.
A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. The only value in our two nations possessing nuclear weapons is to make sure they will never be used. But then would it not be better to do away with them entirely?
– President Ronald Reagan
The fundamental problem with nuclear war is that the decision to retaliate must be made in a matter of minutes. To be precise, 6 minutes. President Reagan railed against the idea that a person has barely a handful of minutes to decide the fate of the entire world, and the insane responsibility of it. To quote Ozzy Osbourne in the song “Killer of Giants” ‘once the button is pushed there will be nowhere to run’ which is mostly true depending on where you are in the world.
Those 6 minutes count for something and having the ability to fully comprehend the fact that you have the power to end human existence needs to be paramount on your mind as president. There are basically two choices as president of the United States. 1. You can smack the big red button and its game over for everyone. Nice try humans. You had a good run. 2. You can decide not to launch in the hope that humanity will learn from this horrific decision to never repeat it. Let history honor your sacrifice to not destroy the entire world and most of human life as well as countless animals, sea life and plant life globally.
But the United States is not going to do that. We dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan in World War II. If we’re attacked, we are going to retaliate. If we’ve proven anything to the world, our government isn’t afraid to use nuclear weapons. Factor in that we have a sitting president in the United States with questionable mental health concerns, who do you think is really going to make that decision?
Any fool can start a war, and once he's done so, even the wisest of men are helpless to stop it - especially if it's a nuclear war. - Nikita Khrushchev
So, what happens next?
It really depends on where the attack is coming from globally and where you are in the world. If the missile is being launched from somewhere like North Korea, the world has somewhere between 33 to 72 minutes left of existence. If the missiles are being launched from a nuclear-powered submarine off our coasts, its less than 33 minutes to as little as 10 minutes. Our intercontinental ballistic missiles take about 60 seconds to launch from here in the United States from the 43 missile silos we have around the country. That doesn’t count the nuclear submarines we have in play. Here is the next fact that should make your heart skip a beat. The minute that those missiles are launched, they can’t be recalled or self-destructed. They weren’t designed that way. Once they are launched, they are gone, and so are we all.
The worst of the worst-case scenarios is if we launch, or another nation launches because of a mistake. There have been 22 reported incidents when we, our allies and our enemies thought they were under attack. See the article below for more details. Fortunately, human intervention allowed us to avoid destruction due to the inadequacies and folly of technology. Consider what would happen if artificial intelligence had the decision-making power in that situation. Would it have the ability to discern between a flock of birds or a volley of missiles? SkyNet, anyone?
https://www.bbc.com/future/artidecision-makinge-nuclear-mistakes-that-could-have-ended-civilisation
The decision to press the big red button should always be in human control. As much as humans rely on technology, this is one decision we can’t leave in the processes of algorithms and coded “what if, if then” conditions. Putting the nuclear codes and decision making in the hands of artificial intelligence is the equivalent of handing a toddler a loaded gun. There is no fate but what we make.
There needs to be some human thought and feeling about ending the life of every man, woman and child. Knowing and processing the consequences of life the day after and the apocalyptic hellscape that we will call planet Earth should put some resistance against such a singular easy action of punching a few buttons. Talking about the subject of the aftermath of a nuclear war, Nikita Khrushchev is reported saying that “the living will envy the dead.”
As a human being, you have two choices. 1. You can prepare to survive. 2. You can accept your fate and sit on your front porch with your loved ones in a group hug and watch the big flash in the sky as you’re all instantly vaporized, if you are lucky enough for that to happen. Below is a link to a website that lays out the size of the bomb and safe distance required to survive the blast.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1369316/nuclear-bomb-lethal-radii-by-shelter-type-and-bomb-size/
If you aren’t killed in the initial blast, then hell awaits you as you will either die from radiation sickness from the fallout or you will starve to death from the nuclear winter that follows. Even if you have a bunker and a means of sustaining yourself for a long period, time is ultimately against you. Resources will eventually run out and most of the planet will not be able to sustain life or grow crops for a long while as the radiation subsides. The reduced sunlight caused by nuclear winter will make it near impossible to crop any large sustainable crops for a large human population.
You may have noticed a few times the words were used “depending on where you are in the world” as a conditional circumstance or probability. According to Annie Jacobsen’s book, there are two places in the world that might be able to sustain human life and potentially support crops after such an event. That is New Zealand and Australia, and the latter is if they are not attacked as a United States ally. But, even if you survive the aftermath, traversing the planet to get there would be a near impossible task without radiation contamination or worse, falling victim to other humans. This is the part that saddens me the most about the entire scenario. In a time where we should be helping each other, humanity will more than likely try to finish the job of killing each other.
Ecclesiastes 4:2 And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive.
Nuclear war is a mass extinction event that is completely avoidable because it would be caused by human hands and could be ended by human hands. The concept of peace through superior firepower and mutually assured destruction is no longer a deterrent, especially with nihilistic dictators with their hands in reach of the big red buttons. As a species, we need to make the concept of nuclear war insanity again. Through our media, we’ve allowed ourselves to be dehumanized to the perception of the loss of human life, especially on a mass scale.
Our news media and entertainment industry have taken the horror out of the public conscience with preconceived notions of our survival after such events. As Americans, we’ve been lulled into a state of apathy and normalcy bias against such possibilities. In our minds, we think our government probably has some advanced secret technology that will stop it. Maybe we do, but are you willing to take that chance? Even our current antimissile systems can’t shoot down short range missiles 100% of the time, more like 50% of the time at best. None have ever shot down a hyper-sonic missile, and all ICBMs are hyper sonic.
What about government underground bunkers? Do you think that you are so special that the ruling elites are going to let you ride it out in their bunkers with them? If you are reading this article, you are not one of them. Especially if you were on the surface after the blast and the possibly radioactively contaminated, it’s not going to happen. You will be on your own for however long you have to live. Thank you to our militarial industrial complex for the hellish end of the world. Thank you America for allowing your politicians to escalate things to our utter destruction. Cue Black Sabbath please!
So what can we do about it?
Start being vocal about this subject. There will be arguments made that we have enemies that would use them against us if we didn’t have them. It’s a logical argument, but no one ever asks why we have these enemies in the first place. Who and why are these other humans our enemies to start? Why do they seek our destruction? If you dig deep enough, you will always find governments make enemies quite easily by trying to impose their will on others either militarily or economically.
The big word that you need to be speaking to your state representatives and senators: disarmament. Humanity doesn’t need these weapons for any reason. Our politicians (right and left) are the ones who will escalate this issue to our impending doom. Start voting them out, demand term limits and push for disarmament. It doesn’t matter what nation you are part of, there is no need for these weapons ever again. Humanity turned away from the shadow of nuclear war falling upon this planet once, and we can do it again.
What can we do now?
You can prepare. Its always wise to stock up on food and water. Natural disasters are always a possibility and preparing is just a prudent measure. Always keep basic medical supplies and rotate a cycle of bottled water, canned and dried foods. Anything refrigerated is going to rot within a day or hours. Always have two weeks to a month’s supply of food on hand because you will be trapped in doors for at least that amount of time. Having lots of duct tape on hand to cover windows, doorways, and ventilation ducts to prevent radioactive dust from getting in your home or shelter from fallout greatly increases your chance of survival.
The main thing you need to know is geographically where you are located and what potential target may be in your area for such an attack. Military bases, data and communications centers, and major agricultural areas are initially primary targets. Large civilian populations follow. Then you need to judge the distance from those locations from your work and home, calculate the distance depending on the worst-case scenario and discern your possibility of surviving the initial blast. Refer to the link above for those approximate distances, types of shelter and size of the bombs.
As mentioned in our previous Nightmare Scenario post, being self sufficient today improves your chance of surviving tomorrow. Learning to grow and canning food, hunting skills and knowing how to live off the land and navigating it without technology will add to your chances. Knowing how to filter radioactive particulates from water is a handy skill to have. But having a mask or knowing how to make one that can filter out radioactive dust will be more important because you’re more likely to inhale it. These are just the basics that you will need just to survive the first two weeks.
Take a moment and imagine you are sitting at home or at work, that you aren’t blinded by the flash and that you’re not killed by the blast wave. After a few minutes the initial shock is beginning to wear off and the realization that it was the bomb. What do you do with the next 72, 33, or 10 minutes of your life? Most vehicles and phones will be inoperable from the electro magnetic pulse from the bomb as well as most technology. Most likely you can’t get to your loved ones or contact them. What are you going to in that moment?
The greatest chance of guaranteeing your survival and that of your family is having control over your own mind, because at first your going to make decisions in a panic if you survive the initial blast. The more you are prepared the less panicked you will be and less likely to make a fatal error. Invest the next 20 minutes of your life and watch the above video.
What does the bible say about this?
There are plenty of preachers in pulpits across America espousing that we are living in “the last days” which is probably true. It’s a broad brush to paint with though, as we’ve been living “in the last days” since Jesus ascended into Heaven from the Christian worldview. Also, you could say the clock started ticking louder since Israel became a nation again in 1948.
Fear mongering from the pulpit is not unheard of and there’s no doubt it could be happening today to drive people to return to the church in a post-Covid world. The end of the world is good business for religion as it is for capitalism. And plenty of Christians love to use this scripture when talking about the last days and that “the world will end in fire.”
2 Peter 3:7 - But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
Fire is a broad term here too. Is that the “lake of fire” at the final judgement that lost souls are cast into on that day? Or nuclear fire? Maybe, but looking at biblical prophecy is like trying to read the pages of a book at the bottom of pool of water in motion. You can get hints of what the writer is trying to tell you, but unless you completely understand the source language (Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic) and the context in where they’re speaking, it’s very hard to get specifics. Regardless of what you think or believe, you don’t have any control of what is going to happen tomorrow.
Matthew 10:16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves."
We, as individuals, have to decide how to prepare ourselves and our families for possibility of surviving. Dying is the easy part. Finding the will to live in a post nuclear war world is another. Some will say you just have to live your life hoping for the best, but there is some naivety and foolishness not to have some level of preparation for any disaster.
The Doomsday Clock was set to 90 seconds until midnight in January 2023 by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Before that was 2019 where it was set to 100 seconds until midnight. With all the major nuclear powers in play in our current global conflict, there are too many fingers that can potentially reach for the “big red button” between the United States, China, Iran, Russia, India, Pakistan and North Korea to name a few. Never before today were the chances of a nuclear war so close and potentially fatal for mankind.
https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/current-time/
Will God allow man to destroy His creation or will God do it Himself? Only a study of eschatology will answer those questions or time will tell us. Its an assumption that most Christians believe that they will be “raptured” out before this would happen, which is a big assumption. Or in my opinion, it is blind faith. Whether it is pre, mid or post tribulational rapture that you believe in, it does not matter. Good and bad things are going to happen to you in this life. There are no exceptions to what happens to who.
Matthew 5:44-45 - But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
This author has it said before, and it will be said again. If you are Christian, then God has complete sovereignty over your life, and you will not die a second sooner or later than you are supposed to do so. That is what we have to have faith in if those dark days come. All we have as Christians is the peace of mind of eternal life and all that will happen will be to our betterment and His Glory, to which we may not understand on this side of life.
If you are not a Christian, then you have to find your own reason for living and understanding of what is to come. What a person can put their faith in after such an event, it certainly can not be humanity. You will find no comfort in the words of Friedrich Niche nor will there be any technological divertions to satiate your mind or soul. Not even the vices of lust, drunkeness and gluttony will be available to dull your senses or numb your pain. The meaning of life the day after will be completely defined by you in what time you have left to live it.
To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering. - Friedrich Niche
There are monsters in our world capable of atrocities on a massive scale. Many them are playing out right now across the planet. Some of these horrors are just around the corner waiting for us to open that Pandora’s box of nightmares designed by our own sins. You can have hope that the good guys always win, and for all our sakes let’s hope and pray that they do. But if history has taught us anything, that is not always the case. Of course, I could be wrong about all of it, and God forgive us, I hope that I am. But it’s just my opinion from the bottom end.
#nuclearwar #WorldWarIII