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The Nuclear Enterprise Is on Autopilot
CounterSpin interview with William Hartung on nuclear overkill
Jackson, Janine http://fair.org/home/the-nuclear-enterprise-is-on-autopilot/
Publisher: Fair
Date Written: 21/11/2017
Year Published: 2017
Resource Type: Article
Janine Jackson interviewed William Hartung about nuclear overkill for the November 17, 2017, episode of CounterSpin.
Abstract:
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Excerpt:
JJ:...We have, what, some 4,000 nuclear weapons?
WH: Yes, in the active stockpile. So any of those could be deployed at any time. There’s a little under 2,000 ready to go now, in ballistic missiles and in submarines, on bombers. And that's far more than would be needed to destroy North Korea -- that would be a handful of weapons -- pretty much disable and destroy any country in the world. And if there were a large exchange, probably end the prospects of life on the planet over the medium term. So there's massive nuclear overkill and, you know, some experts -- those who believe in nuclear deterrence, as opposed to getting rid of nuclear weapons -- say about 300 would be enough to dissuade any country from attacking the United States with nuclear weapons. So you've got huge excess. Some of it is leftover ideology from the Cold War but, as I said, most of it is power and profits.
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