I doubt Trump follows this Twitter account, but he should. Below is a Twitter link.
Russia Says It Has Developed A New Weapon That Can Fly 27 Times The Speed Of Sound and this brings us closer to the possibility of an accidental nuclear holocaust.
According this HuffPost article the weapon carries a nuclear weapon of up to 2 megatons, or 2 million of tons of TNT.
Below shows the blast radius of a 1 megaton nuclear bomb detonated over Manhattan. The graphic below (to which I added Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue) is from How Far Away Would You Need to Be to Survive a Nuclear Blast? It has two videos.
In 1961 the Soviet Union tested a nuclear bomb so powerful that it would have been too big to use in war.
It was the result of a feverish attempt by the USSR’s scientists to create the most powerful nuclear weapon yet, spurred on by Premier Nikita Khruschchev’s desire to make the world tremble at the might of Soviet technology. It was more than a metal monstrosity too big to fit inside even the largest aircraft – it was a city destroyer, a weapon of last resort.
Putin would have been far better off spending the vast amount of money it cost to develop this new weapon on improving the infrastructure and overall economy of Russia. Russia ranks 11th on a list of the world’s economies. By way of comparison, Italy is number 7.
However, like with Khruschchev before him he wants the world to tremble at the might of Russian highly advanced military technology. He’s much like Kim Jung Un in this regard, although North Korea’s standard of living, economy and infrastructure are generally considered very poor.
The free world, with the exception of Putin’s Puppet and Moscow Mitch is already trembling at the not particularly cutting edge abilities of Russia and other countries ability to hack and influence our elections. Cyber-warfare of this mundane kind, as opposed to shutting down our power grids or making our nuclear power plants melt down, isn’t really glamorous. It is more dangerous to our democracy. Like Trump said about the 2016 election “it also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, okay? ..” Hacking is easy stuff which even computer savvy kids can really pull off from their bedrooms (see Hacking the US mid-terms? It's child's play from 2018).
Between Putin’s saber rattling and Kim Jung Un being poised to send Trump a belated Christmas present probably in the form of testing an ICBM capable of reaching somewhere on the mainland United States I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists doesn’t move the nuclear clock from two minutes before midnight to even closer. For example:
Christmas came and went without Santa Kim coming to town. North Korea’s warning that the United States would receive an unwelcome “Christmas gift” was never guaranteed. Actually, it came with a condition attached: Pyongyang said “it is entirely up to the US what Christmas gift it will select to get.” Did President Donald Trump send North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a secret letter, or vice versa? If so, it won’t take long to find out. Did Beijing privately warn Pyongyang against doing anything provocative on Christmas? Did Trump’s envoy Steve Biegun deliver a message to Pyongyang through a third party when he traveled in the region last week? Did Pyongyang restrain itself because China hosted the leaders of South Korea and Japan on Christmas eve? Was Pyongyang bluffing?
Or is North Korea in fact focused instead on whether Washington will meet its year-end deadline to propose a satisfactory deal before deciding whether and how to respond?
These questions may go unanswered.
If you really want to get into the weeds, the poison ivy that is, here’s another article from the Bulletin:
I am really surprised that the experts who determine where to set the Doomsday Clock haven’t moved it closer to midnight. Between Trump, Putin, and Kim in control of nuclear arsenals added to the new nuclear arms race it seems we need a wake-up call. I’m not expert but I think one minute before midnight makes sense.
With this announcement from Putin tied in with the chance of Kim’s Christmas present we have a decidedly unstable president obsessed with rage tweeting against Democrats who doesn’t listen to his military or diplomatic advisors.
I am honestly tired of this cliché but I can’t think of a better one:
What Could Go Wrong?
UPDATE: