I often write about World War III and the fact that it’s not a matter of “if,” but “when.” Something is about to happen that should scare everyone, or at least cause them some form of concern. That’s because a major treaty between Russia and the United States has expired or will expire in a few hours depending on time zones.
The treaty has to do with nuclear weapons and how much such weapons are gathered. As can be expected, Russia is blaming us, saying that we haven’t expressed an interest in renewing it. I don’t know how true that is, but with the treaty gone, the former Soviet Union is saying that they will do whatever it must in order to defend itself.
That might cause some concern amongst our nation’s military leaders and the commander-in-chief himself. If Russia is feeling threatened, they can now go full speed ahead on building pretty much as much nuclear weapons as they want. They already have the world’s largest arsenal (~5,459) and we’re a close second (~5,117).
This problem is coming up for the first time in over five decades and nothing good can come of it. Does that mean Russia will nuke us this week? Probably not, but this does mean that Russia is resuming increasing its stockpile at this very moment. You can count on that! Of course, that means that we will immediately have to increase ours to protect ourselves.
Because Russia is probably already working on it, it’s time that people become very well aware of the Emergency Alert System. The most severe alert that can be issued, and only by the president, has to do with a situation such as this. For those of you who don’t know what the EAS thing, it’s that sound that annoys many people when it comes through on a radio or television station.
If that National Emergency Message (formerly Emergency Activation Notification) is issued, it will be for the first actual time in our nation’s history. There was a famous false alarm in 1971, but this time, things will be very well set up. Coming from a broadcast engineering background, I can tell you that the system is set up so that all of the legally-operating radio or television stations will essentially be seized by the president. That’s the price of doing business when a station obtains a broadcasting license.
Will we need the EAS in the coming days? Maybe not that dramatic, but now would be a good time for every station to ensure that their equipment and personnel are ready to go. Yes, there are weekly and monthly tests that do that, but I’m saying that it’s time for master control operators especially to be prepared for the worst possible scenario.
It may be weeks, months or maybe even years before Russia does something drastic, but it’s my opinion that with the treaty now thrown out the window with no replacement in sight, things are about to escalate and it won’t be pretty. Hell, it might even usher in a new Cold War.
Am I being melodramatic? No. Realistic.