As North Korea continues its test-runs of intercontinental ballistic missiles, the U.S and Russia have been making statements that suggest some kind of Armageddon is around the corner.
According to The Telegraph (UK), Donald Trump’s defence secretary Jim ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis has warned North Korea of an “effective and overwhelming” response if Pyongyang used nuclear weapons.
In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin told his defence chiefs that strengthening nuclear capability should be a key objective for 2017.
Iran, Pakistan, India, and Israel—all of them no signatories to the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons—have their stockpiles too.
Apart from Iran, the other four, including North Korea, have 340 missiles all together.
The U.S and Russia, however, control 88 percent of the 14,900 nuclear warheads all over the world. China, France, and the U.K follow. These are the five officially recognised states having nuclear weapons.
The Telegraph estimated that the US and Russian arsenals combined have power equating to 6,600 megatons. “This is a tenth of the total solar energy received by Earth every minute.”
The dropping of the B-83, the largest bomb in the current US arsenal, would kill 1.4 million people in the first 24 hours. A further 3.7 million people would be injured, as the thermal radiation radius reached 13.km, According to the NukeMap website,
Russia’s largest “Tsar Bomba” could kill 7.6 million people and injure 4.2 million more if dropped on New York. The nuclear fallout could reach an approximate area of 7,880 km on a 15 mph wind, impacting millions more people.
No African country is in the industrial arms complex yet—and none can boast of a single nuclear missile.