Nuclear War A Scenario

I should just pause and say you wrecked my morning over breakfast today by describing at length the new Annie Jacobson book on nuclear war.

I won't do it for everybody except that it's a remarkable book. It's chilling.

But it describes in meticulous, rigorous technical language based on voluminous research how the world could come to an end in a few minutes.

It's called Nuclear War.

Nuclear War, a scenario. By Annie Jacobson.

I've told you I've been every night I've been listening to this book. It's called a Nuclear War scenario. Yeah, it's terrifying.

It's the scariest book I've ever read.

The thing that's really scary about the book is it talks about Russia's like Tundra, their their early weapons.

It's just it's all it's a nightmare.

The book's so scary. I don't even think about accidents.

Have you read any Jacobson's book, Nuclear War?

You need to or at least have her on. It is the most terrifying thing. We haven't thought about Nuclear War at least since I was a kid.

First Chasing Embers and then Nuclear War.

But she takes you through minute by minute what the president has to do from launch from in this case it was South Korea or North Korea thank God. It was North Korea and all of the decisions that he has to make in six minutes there is no way this guy is capable of making those decisions.

I take the readers from nuclear launch to nuclear winter and I have these little sort of nerdish history breaks where I give you some of the details like this but mostly I stay out of the policy both behind nuclear nonproliferation and also the policies that could lead to nuclear war because I really want the readers to know like this is what happens

You know it's often said here in America that the nuclear weapons belong to the nuclear priesthood the PhD priesthood right and there's kind of an almost it seems like a foolhardy attempt to keep the laymen out to keep regular people like you and me from really knowing these things

I mean they are called the handmaidens of the apocalypse with good reason there are 14 of them they're nuclear armed nuclear powered submarines satellites can't see them they just cruise around underwater like loaded with nuclear weapons each one has as many as 90 and that's enough to take out like not a city like not a continent but arguably civilization because 90 nuclear weapons almost certainly sets off nuclear world war three

It is so profoundly classified and not a lot of people know about it and it's almost certainly on everybody's nuclear strike target list because can you imagine the mayhem that would ensue if you struck that

And that is why in my scenario North Korea launches the bolt out of the blue attack because they are not playing by the rules to them the rules exist I asked one of the experts why do they do that to show that they have power to demonstrate that they are outside the norm to demonstrate that they are menacing and will do what it is they choose to do

There's a a book that a woman named Annie Jacobson just wrote about nuclear war that goes into detail in all of this And and it is incredibly disturbing and eye-opening To to look at what she details in The actions that a president Must take and will take In the event of a nuclear war and what the consequences are really Yes, I highly recommend it.

I have to tell you, I'm way more scared of nuclear conflict than I was before reading this book.

I mean the fundamental premise of the book is to demonstrate in appalling detail about just how terrifying nuclear war would be.

I guess I thought I had and I'm sure I'm not the only one I thought we had way more checks and balances and defense mechanisms and like your book was like actually.

And we'll get into all this but it's like actually if one person gets really suicidal or homicidal there's nothing pretty much anyone can do about it and if there's like a weird accident because somebody had a miscalibrated instrument would the worst all dead or wishing we were dead.

I mean you would think in a democracy you would have like you said more checks and balances but not only that thing that shocks me always is that the fundamental premise behind nuclear wars that it's so presidential authority.