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'Nuclear deterrent' and the India/Pakistan conflict
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- Published on Friday, 01 March 2019 14:47
Tensions between the two nuclear powers continues to escalate in the disputed region with the countries reportedly exchanging shellfire over the Line of Conflict. Both countries have ordered air strikes over the Line of Control in Kashmir over the last two days, the first time in history that two nuclear-armed powers have done so, while ground forces have exchanged fire in more than a dozen locations.
There is a danger that a misunderstanding could to a nuclear exchange and Pakistan's Prime Minister (Imran Khan) met with his country's nuclear weapons body on Wednesday (27th February 2019), in response to India's first air strikes on Pakistan since 1971, which is a strong indication of how real the threat of nuclear war is. Nuclear weapons, far from deterring war, make conflicts more dangerous than they would otherwise be.
Nuclear war expert Brian Toon in a video from 2018 explains what a nuclear war in this era can do. You can watch this video here.
In the video, Brian explains in a very simple manner: "There are 15,000 nuclear missiles in this perilous era. There are 9 nuclear weapon states that are at the verge of conflicts; the USA and North Korea, NATO and Russia along with India and Pakistan. Put simply, we are just one misunderstanding away from nuclear conflict."