Nuclear Treaty Signed

[Jasper]

A 50 megaton bomb is probably the most hilarious thing I can imagine.  My sense of humor may be malfunctioning.

[BabylonHoruv]

A 50 megaton bomb is probably the most hilarious thing I can imagine.  My sense of humor may be malfunctioning.

I'm more amused by the 50 Megatron bomb.

[E.O.T.]

Quote:

          PRAGUE—Seeking to end years of rancor, President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday signed the biggest nuclear arms pact in a generation and envisioned a day when they can compromise on the divisive issue of missile defense...

The pact will shrink the limit of nuclear warheads to 1,550 per country over seven years. That still allows for mutual destruction several times over. But it is intended to send a strong signal that Russia and the U.S. -- which between them own more than 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons -- are serious about disarmament.

SHAM

          and

MORE CRAP

          1) The pact will shrink the limit of nuclear warheads to 1,550 per country

          2) That still allows for mutual destruction several times over

          3) But it is intended to send a strong signal

          4) Russia and the U.S. -- which between them own more than 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons

THIS WHITEWASH

          has been ramping up for months. Both nations need to get rid of a certain percentage of defunct nuclear war technology, this is an empty, slight of hand gesture.

[Iason Ouabache]

Nuclear Disarmament is a good thing. SUCH a good thing.

DID YOU KNOW?
it would only take 10 Megatons (400 Hiroshima-size bombs) to destroy the US.

There are now bombs with a payload of 50 megatons.

According to a report published by the U.S State Department in April, 2009, Russia has 3,909 nuclear warheads, while the US has 5,576 warheads

WHYYY do we need enough nuclear weapons to destroy the entire world over 100 times over?

Douglas Hofstadter said it really well:

The Nuclear Arms race is like two guys standing in a pool of gasoline up to their chests, saying "HAH! I have more matches than you."

While I agree with you, your numbers are off. A single 50 megaton bomb would totally destroy an area with a radius of 35 km, and have effects 100s of miles around, but it would not destroy the whole united states.

400 Hiroshima's? Yeah, that could end this country, if dispersed properly. One 10 megaton? Not likely.

A 50 megaton bomb centered around Philadelphia would be enough to kill our infrastructure. Get another one to hit LA and Colorado Springs and this country would be toast.

[Triple Zero]

A 50 megaton bomb is probably the most hilarious thing I can imagine.  My sense of humor may be malfunctioning.

BABY'S GOT AN ATOM BOMB

A MOTHERFUCKING ATOM BOMB

AT TWENTY TWO MEGATONS

YOU NEVER SEEN SO MUCH FUN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fYimf1sAXY

that song rocks soooo much

[Remington]

There used to be a 50-Megaton bomb, you know. The Russians built it as proof of concept (Also, they had an island that was blocking their view).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba




Some fun facts about the "Emperor of Bombs":

-The single most powerful device ever utilized by humanity. Ever. The total energy produced during the fission-fusion process was 5.4 yottawatts, or 1.4% of the average output of the Sun.

-The construction of the bomb's parachute actually put a noticeable drain on the Soviet nylon industry.

-The mushroom cloud was 40 miles high, 7 times the height of Everest.

-The bomb was dropped here:

It shattered windows in Sweden.

-The blast was enough to cause third degree burns at a distance of 100 km, and blast damage at 1,000 km.

-50 Megatons is the equivalent of all the munitions and explosives used in WWII, set off all at once. Times ten.

And, get this:
-This was the scaled down version. The original design called for a 100-Megaton yield.

[Rumckle]

Both nations need to get rid of a certain percentage of defunct nuclear war technology, this is an empty, slight of hand gesture.

That's what I was thinking.

[Cain]

China's nuclear policy is minimal deterrence anyway.  

Why is that?

As far as I can tell, the Chinese government believes, not unreasonably, that protracted nuclear pissing matches retard economic growth due to their high price tags and make nuclear war more likely because the continual drills, exercises, with ever increasing numbers of weapons increase the chances of something going wrong.

that all sounds perfectly reasonable to me...
but why does the deterrent effect go away without continual drills, exercises, etc. that cost so much?
i mean, the relations of the US with any nation that acquires the bomb immediately changes regardless of how badasss they really are, right?
just knowing that a nation has one, (or hundreds) and they are on icbm's pointed at you, is the deterrent, right?  the saber rattling is just saber rattling, no?

It doesn't go away.  China retains a second-strike capacity, however it only keeps enough weapons to seriously damage a large country, as opposed to being able to destroy the world.  Which means, despite certain claims of nuclear ambiguity that some strategists believe China holds, China likely wont start a nuclear war because they cannot be sure they will destroy all the opposing side's weapons without suffering massive casualties in return.  They are therefore for deterrence, but China is striving to avoid the problems of the security dilemma (ie; are they building up a nuclear stockpile for defensive or aggressive reasons?).

It's much harder to tell where the US stands, because the US has a stated policy of first-strike, which it has never renounced, and many of the battlefield conditions where a US commander can request a nuclear strike under the Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations could be offensive in nature.

[Elder Iptuous]

hm...

the posturing surrounding world-destructive capabilities is interesting...

have you ever heard about the hand written letter from the Britain's PM that is sealed in a safe, that is sealed in a safe, that is sealed in a room aboard the ballistic missile type nuclear submarines you have?  it contains the command that is given to the captain in the event that a nuclear attack has occurred and England is totally destroyed.
a story that i heard on NPR (this american life, i believe) once was discussing the oddities of that letter.  the paradoxes, ironies, and absurdities that it represents.  also, you are apparently the only nation that has something like that.

[Cain]

I have heard bits about that, yes.  Apparently in the event the UK is destroyed, British nuclear subs are to hand themselves over to Australian or, failing that, American command. 

Although the final orders of the Prime Minister are at his or her discretion, and no fixed options exist, four known options are often presented to prime ministers by military advisors when writing such notes of last resort: (i) Captain ordered to respond to the nuclear attack on the UK by launching submarine's nuclear weapons; (ii) Captain ordered not to respond with nuclear weapons; (iii) Captain ordered to use own judgement whether to return fire with nuclear weapons; (iv) Captain ordered to place himself and ship under the command of Her Majesty's Government of Australia, or alternatively of the President of the United States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_of_last_resort

[Elder Iptuous]

I have heard bits about that, yes.  Apparently in the event the UK is destroyed, British nuclear subs are to hand themselves over to Australian or, failing that, American command. 

wait, are you saying the letter's contents are currently known to be that option?  i'm dubious.  that would make the letter totally pointless...

[Cain]

No, but it'd be the smartest option, since anyone who nukes the entire UK probably wont be very popular (with France at the very least) and having some rogue submarines firing nukes at the same time as everyone else may cause unfortunate accidents.

[LMNO]

Remington, that article scared the hell out of me. I can totally understand the cold war nuke fears now.

[Cain]

Really?  I thought that was awesome.

[Remington]

Remington, that article scared the hell out of me. I can totally understand the cold war nuke fears now.

The numbers of the thing kind of drive it home.

The thing is, though, the Tsar Bomba was too big to be actually militarily useful. Multiple distributed warheads (MIRV-type systems) would be more useful and more easily deployed in real-world situations: the Tsar was essentially a political statement.