Daily Hampshire Gazette – Cynthia Loring MacBain: Putin's nuclear threat

Putin announced that his army would train to use tactical nuclear weapons in its war against Ukraine. There has not been enough information in the media about what these tactical nuclear weapons are, and our ignorance is dangerous.

Tactical nuclear weapons include aerial bombs, short-range missile warheads, and artillery munitions. Since they are used against specific targets, they do not have the widespread effect of a nuclear bomb, but they are nevertheless several times more powerful than non-nuclear weapons and can have serious long-term effects. According to Scientific American, a tactical nuclear weapon would produce a fireball, shock waves and deadly radiation that would cause long-term damage to the health of survivors. Radioactive fallout would contaminate air, soil, water and food supplies. Ukrainians understand these effects to some extent after the 1986 nuclear reactor meltdown.

The range of the Russian Iskander ballistic missile is 500 kilometers. The United States also has around a hundred nuclear “gravitational bombs” in Europe. If his war in Ukraine goes badly, Putin may resort, out of desperation, to a tactical nuclear weapon. The United States could retaliate with our tactical nuclear weapons already present in Europe, and this could escalate into World War III, this time in the form of all-out nuclear war. A nuclear war would not only destroy cities and military targets, and result in the formation of radioactive clouds that would travel across the earth, sickening and killing countless people, but the resulting fires would send up sufficient soot and smoke into the stratosphere to block the sun for at least 10 years. No sun, no crops; no crops, no food. There would be mass starvation of humans and animal life worldwide.

It’s time for us to recognize that the “unthinkable” is actually reality and start “thinking outside the box.”

There will be a public forum on Wednesday, June 12 at 6:30 p.m. at the Forbes Library in Northapton: “The War in Ukraine – Where is it Going?” Speakers will address both sides of the issue, whether to continue arming Ukraine or urging Ukraine to negotiate a settlement with Russia. The program can also be viewed on the Forbes YouTube channel.

Cynthia Loring MacBain

Southampton