The possibility of the United States being wiped off the map by nuclear means has existed for many decades now. Those of us of a certain age remember the Cold War and there was always the threat of what was then the Soviet Union nuking us. To be fair, there was always the threat of the USA retaliating in kind as we are a no first strike nation.
I wrote about this yesterday. The signs are starting to appear, signs of a possible nuclear confrontation instigated by Russia. Well, now things are getting spicier. Most of us have heard of Russia’s Dead Hand operation. It hasn’t actually been used. Yet.
Essentially, Operation Dead Hand, also referred to as Perimeter, makes it possible for Russia to launch a nuclear strike automatically should its technology detect that Russia’s leadership has been eliminated or at least incapacitated.
In the United States, a nuclear launch must be initiated by humans, humans who need authentication codes and keys. Russia, on the other hand, does have the capability of letting computers do the heavy lifting. And according to this article, Operation Dead Hand could wipe our nation out in about half an hour. We may or may not have time to retaliate.
Sure, we have systems that detect certain things, but we have yet to make an automatic launch happen. In other words, we have no answer to Russia’s Operation Dead Hand, and that may very well be the final nail in our collective coffin.
So why is Russia seemingly preparing for a launch towards our fine nation? President Donald Trump has accelerated his demand that Russia immediately end the war in Ukraine. Obviously, President Vladimir Putin has no intentions of doing so, so Trump ramped things up. He did that as a precaution, given the incendiary words of Russia’s former president who now sits on a security council of some sort.
Clearly, Putin doesn’t want to hear it.
The idea that their Operation Dead Hand could automatically end the world seems to be scary. In fact, I’m willing to bet that you or people you know are quite concerned. If you or they are not, then something’s wrong. Me? I don’t give a rat’s ass. Barring a Hail Mary situation on Tuesday, I will be gone of causes incident to a severe bowel obstruction.
So if Russia launches manually or through Dead Hand, it won’t scare me one bit. All I can do in that situation is hope that I’m vaporized when, and I do mean when, Russia points some of its nukes at the general Albany area due to certain assets here.
From what I’m reading, it appears that Dead Hand has a certain element that would prevent unwarranted activation, but I for one am not placated. Putin has always wanted to strike against us, and given that we’ve moved at least two nuclear submarines to his neck of the woods, his desire to nuke us is likely growing mightier by the minute.
In other words, Putin’s patience might run out when he sees our submarines grow ever closer to his nation. He may feel threatened, or his people will tell him that he should be threatened. At that point, Russia may just instigate a nuclear confrontation that could wipe out 80% of the world population within a matter of an hour or two.
There are some countries that are somewhat safe from the effects of nuclear war, but for the most part, if Russia strikes first, then we will try our best to retaliate and through Article V, our NATO allies will jump in.
At that point, World War III will be the quickest war in our planet’s history, wiping out you and everyone you care about.
Sleep tight!