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Why not talk about nuclear war? It’s one of several elephants in the room. The full collapse of a nuclear super power is unprecedented. Who gets the weapons?

buscoquadnary 4y ago
Well the USSR isn't around anymore and they had quite a few nukes so....
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- formerkrogemp 4y ago
  But the nukes are still around. Except Ukraine gave theirs up. It's not like they had a choice.
- cjbgkagh 4y ago
  I think we got lucky with that one. A special set of circumstances that are unlikely to repeat.
  - TrevorJ 4y ago
    We got lucky with that one so far.
  - roenxi 4y ago
    Western thought severely undersells the noble and peaceful way the USSR folded up once they couldn't handle the economic madness any more. Relative to what it could have been anyway, it was no doubt terrifying for a lot of people.
- at-fates-hands 4y ago
  Which is interesting to note since a majority of the other weapons the former Soviet Union had made their way into several revolutions happening in the Middle East and Africa via several well known international arms dealers. Not sure if it was just operationally unfeasible to move something like a ballistic nuclear weapon, but from what I can gather, it was one of the few things that wasn't sold off en masse after the collapse.
  - robonerd 4y ago
    The Soviet Union (and America) made hundreds if not thousands of tactical nuclear weapons. These were very small; you could put many of them into a single standard shipping container. During the 90s there were persistent rumors that some of these had been "lost", but as far as I know these rumors were never substantiated. If in fact these weapons didn't get stolen/sold, we probably have numerous intelligence agencies to thank.
xyzzyz 4y ago
USSR has fully collapsed, and the few years after its collapse were almost total anarchy.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
UncleOxidant 4y ago
They still have them. Even more than pretty much anyone else.
- idiotsecant 4y ago
  They still have most of them.
hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
My sentence was "I'm not just talking about things like nuclear war". Point being that, yes, the unique dangers of nuclear war seem so blatantly obvious that they're not likely to be ignored. Contrast that with one of the other "elephants in the room" that has the potential to be nearly as dangerous, but as these other risks don't involve, on the surface, metro-area obliterating fireballs, they are easier to downplay.

buscoquadnary 4y ago

Well the USSR isn't around anymore and they had quite a few nukes so....

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
formerkrogemp 4y ago
But the nukes are still around. Except Ukraine gave theirs up. It's not like they had a choice.
cjbgkagh 4y ago
I think we got lucky with that one. A special set of circumstances that are unlikely to repeat.
- TrevorJ 4y ago
  We got lucky with that one so far.
- roenxi 4y ago
  Western thought severely undersells the noble and peaceful way the USSR folded up once they couldn't handle the economic madness any more. Relative to what it could have been anyway, it was no doubt terrifying for a lot of people.
at-fates-hands 4y ago
Which is interesting to note since a majority of the other weapons the former Soviet Union had made their way into several revolutions happening in the Middle East and Africa via several well known international arms dealers. Not sure if it was just operationally unfeasible to move something like a ballistic nuclear weapon, but from what I can gather, it was one of the few things that wasn't sold off en masse after the collapse.
- robonerd 4y ago
  The Soviet Union (and America) made hundreds if not thousands of tactical nuclear weapons. These were very small; you could put many of them into a single standard shipping container. During the 90s there were persistent rumors that some of these had been "lost", but as far as I know these rumors were never substantiated. If in fact these weapons didn't get stolen/sold, we probably have numerous intelligence agencies to thank.

xyzzyz 4y ago

USSR has fully collapsed, and the few years after its collapse were almost total anarchy.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

UncleOxidant 4y ago

They still have them. Even more than pretty much anyone else.

idiotsecant 4y ago
They still have most of them.

hn_throwaway_99 4y ago

My sentence was "I'm not just talking about things like nuclear war". Point being that, yes, the unique dangers of nuclear war seem so blatantly obvious that they're not likely to be ignored. Contrast that with one of the other "elephants in the room" that has the potential to be nearly as dangerous, but as these other risks don't involve, on the surface, metro-area obliterating fireballs, they are easier to downplay.