“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity” ~llaw
May 08, 2025
My big brother, Curtis, and me decked out in military uniforms in Tensleep, Wyoming, near the end of Word War II. (Photo Credit: Mom)
LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD NEWS TODAY and the GLOBAL RISKS & CONSEQUENCES TOMORROW
In My Opinion:
Every article referring to nuclear war in the media today is focussed on the threat of nuclear war between India and Pakistan, so I simply picked one to represent them all, although the threat and concern levels runs the gamut of where so-called experts believe a nuclear war would actually happen all the way from not at all to very concerned in these categories:
1. Very concerned
- Somewhat concerned
- Not at all concerned
- Other / No opinion
My own opinion is that it won’t happen — at least not now or yet . . . and I hope to hell I am not wrong. My reasoning is that other nuclear-armed nations are already “begging” both nations to back away from the very idea of nuclear war because if one of them launches an actual nuclear warhead, it won’t simply be the other side that retaliates, but other nations as well, which would instantly ignite WWIII, and if that happens life (including other innocent species) on mother Earth is essentially no more.
Certainly 26 deaths from the conventional missile fired by India against Pakistan is an unfortunate and cruel attack, but consider the thousands upon thousands of lives that have been lost in the 3+ years of the most recent war between nuclear-armed Russia and Ukraine (which has no nuclear weapons) in a more conventional war. Then consider also the tension-filled nuclear-armed Israel versus Iran (which has no nuclear weapons either to the best of our knowledge), cooler heads have so far refrained from nuking their helpless enemies, most likely because they know that if they refrain, they realize at least two of the reasons to use threats only: First is that any land they they acquire would be highly radioactive and uninhabitable, and the second is that whenever the 1st nuclear bomb is used, it is not just their enemy they are attacking, but rather the entire nuclear world as well as the conventional world — and that would be, as I mentioned above, the end for us all.
So it is that common sense, not deterrence or idle threats, is the path to a lasting much-needed peace on Earth. ~llaw
The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill
Nuclear war is brewing between India and Pakistan — here’s what the world needs to know
by Donald Kirk, opinion contributor – 05/07/25 3:00 PM ET
The massacre of 26 tourists in a lovely vale beneath snow-covered Himalayan peaks last month carries implications far beyond the bloodshed. Looming above the carnage is the apparition of nuclear war erupting between two of the world’s nine nuclear powers, on a subcontinent with an aggregate population approaching 2 billion.
Neither India nor Pakistan has conducted a nuclear test since 1998, but they’re primed to tip missiles with warheads, or drop them from planes, if the massacre lights the spark that ignites a nuclear holocaust. They’ve both raised the stakes, with India going beyond missile tests to deadly strikes at what it claims were the hideouts of terrorists in the portion of Kashmir that’s held by Pakistan. Pakistan claims to have shot down two Indian warplanes, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowing revenge for “an act of war.”
India ordered the missile barrage as soldiers, police and civilian agents rounded up at least 2,000 Kashmiris suspected of playing a role, directly or indirectly, in the worst terror incident in years in the hotly disputed region. As tensions reach a breaking point, war — conventional or nuclear — is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid.
One major difference between this and previous episodes of violence is that Pakistan has cancelled an agreement establishing the “line of control” in Kashmir between India and Pakistan. The two sides came together at Simla in the aftermath of the founding of Bangladesh, previously known as “East Pakistan,” which was separated from “West Pakistan” by about 1,800 miles of Indian territory. Pakistan, with the blessing of the American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, waged a bloody war to preserve its eastern and western sectors as one country. Indian military support against Pakistan was essential in Bangladesh’s victorious freedom struggle.
India and Pakistan have come to blows periodically since then, but last month’s attack could have lasting, far-reaching repercussions. Almost nightly, Indian and Pakistani forces exchange fire across the “line of control” as Indian authorities comb Kashmir for suspects. Repeatedly denying anything to do with the massacre, Pakistan has raised the specter of nuclear war in terms that would be foolish to ignore.
“The clash between two nuclear powers is always worrisome,” Pakistan’s defense minister, Khawaja Asif, warned in an interview with Britain’s Sky News. “If there is an all-out attack, then obviously there will be an all-out war.” Incredibly, Asif also accused India of having staged the attack in a “false flag” operation, with the implication that India had plotted the entire incident to fool people into believing Pakistan had perpetrated a slaughter that could ultimately lead to war. “We will measure our response to whatever is initiated by India,” Asif said.
Indians whom I contacted, however, are downplaying the likelihood of war breaking out right away. “India and Pakistan are very unlikely to fight a nuclear war,” the founder of the Kalinga Institute of Indo-Pacific Studies in New Delhi, Chintamani Mahapatra, told me. “The deadly outcome of nuclear exchange is known to both parties. … Notwithstanding nuclear saber-rattling by Pakistan, it would not go to the extent of using nuclear weapons.”
One safeguard for India: “Pakistan knows that India has a large Muslim population,” Mahapatra told me. “It would not use a weapon that could kill a large number of Muslims.” Besides, he said, “The final outcome of a nuclear exchange could result in total obliteration of Pakistan — though the cost to India will be gargantuan as well.”
Indian commentators cite a declassified CIA report, exposed by a Washington nonprofit, National Security Archives, as concluding, “Pakistan sees nuclear weapons primarily as a deterrent and as insurance for its survival if a conflict developed with conventionally superior India.” The logic in the CIA report was simple: “Rapid Indian military improvements would strain Pakistan’s ability to remain competitive,” the Indian broadcaster Times Now quoted the report as saying. Pakistan would have to “rely more heavily on nuclear deterrence.”
It was to match India that the Pakistan physicist A.Q. Khan began developing nukes in the 1970s. His research, supported by massive funding, led to Pakistan’s first nuclear test in 1993, nearly 20 years after India’s first test in 1974. Now venerated in Pakistan as “father” of the Pakistan A-bomb, Khan was notorious for exchanging the secrets of nuclear technology with North Korea, Iran and others before dying in 2021.
The violence sparked last month gives testament to the hatred that simmers in Pakistan, an Islamic nation known to harbor terrorist groups. “The hostility between Pakistan and India is one of the longest-standing and most dangerous rivalries in modern history,” the website scientificorigin.com noted. “Born out of the traumatic partition of British India in 1947,” it said, the enmity “has broader implications for regional stability in South Asia, especially given that both nations are nuclear-armed.”
Subscribed
ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’s ALL NUCLEAR DAILY DIGEST” RELATED MEDIA
There are 7 categories, with the latest addition, (#7) being a Friday weekly roundup of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) global nuclear news stories. Also included is a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives. The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:
- All Things Nuclear
- Nuclear Power
- Nuclear Power Emergencies
- Nuclear War Threats
- Nuclear War
- Yellowstone Caldera & Other Volcanoes (Note: There are three Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in today’s Post.)
- IAEA Weekly News (Friday’s only) Please note there is no IAEA Weekly news today.
Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.
A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.
TODAY’s NUCLEAR WORLD’s NEWS DIGEST, Thursday, (05/08/2025)
All Things Nuclear
NEWS
The latest on the India-Pakistan conflict – NPR
NPR
Heard on All Things Considered … CHANG: And he’s warning that things could escalate into nuclear war because both countries have nuclear weapons, …
Opinion – Nuclear war is brewing between India and Pakistan — here’s what the world needs to know
Yahoo
Singh predicted India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, “will make some noise for public consumption, but things will calm down.” … All rights reserved …
Nuclear war is brewing between India and Pakistan — here’s what the world needs to know
The Hill
How concerned are you about the possibility of nuclear war between India and Pakistan? Very concerned; Somewhat concerned; Not at all concerned
Nuclear Power
NEWS
Governors Ink Regional Pact to Expand Nuclear Energy in the West – Broadband Breakfast
Broadband Breakfast
Utah has also emerged as a hub of nuclear activity. Holtec International and Terrestrial Energy have signed separate MOUs to develop and potentially …
Ontario greenlights construction of Canada’s first small modular reactor | CBC News
CBC
Premier Doug Ford’s government has given Ontario Power Generation the green light to start construction on Canada’s first small modular reactor, …
New Jersey Regulators Release Request for Information on Nuclear Generation
American Public Power Association
… energy goals. New Jersey has three active thermal nuclear power reactors, Salem 1 and 2 and Hope Creek. The three reactors generate 40% of the …
Nuclear Power Emergencies
NEWS
Who is in the Evacuate Zone if There Was an Emergency at Seabrook, NH Nuclear Plant?
97.5 WOKQ
News has been spreading on the seacoast that the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant has degrading concrete, a concern for many living nearby.
Existing EBRD funds not enough to restore Chornobyl Nuclear Plant confinement after …
The Kyiv Independent
… emergency work at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, “significantly more funding is required” to address the problems caus the attack
Nuclear War Threats
NEWS
Pakistan warns nuclear war with India is a ‘clear and present’ threat
New York Post
… nuclear war threat was “clear and present.” “Pakistan has faced such threats before and [the] region could once again be on brink of a strategic .
Pakistan minister issues nuclear war threat as it ‘downs 12 drones’ over its cities
The Independent
Pakistan minister says ‘clear and present’ threat of nuclear war … He said Pakistan has faced such threats before, and the region could once …
Statement from Ernest J. Moniz on India-Pakistan Conflict – Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI)
Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI)
The risks of dangerous escalation and miscalculation are real, with a conventional war increasing the potential for nuclear threats, or even nuclear …
Nuclear War
NEWS
What are India and Pakistan’s military and nuclear capabilities? – Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera
Why did India attack Pakistan? On Wednesday morning, Pakistan’s armed forces said Indian missiles struck six locations, including four places in …
India-Pakistan face-off: Nuclear expert draws up likely scenarios as war clouds gather
The Economic Times
Amid rising India-Pakistan tensions, nuclear expert Hans Kristensen has suggested that current hostilities don’t directly threaten nuclear ..
Why are two nuclear powers on the brink of war? | India-Pakistan conflict – YouTube
YouTube
How did we get to the position where two nuclear-armed countries are on the verge of a serious armed conflict? Alex Rossi takes us through the …
Yellowstone Caldera
NEWS
Scientists make ‘tiny earthquakes’ to find how close magma is to the surface in Yellowstone
MSN
… Yellowstone National Park in September 2020. | Jamie Farrell, University of Utah © East Idaho News. The following is taken from Yellowstone Caldera …
Where Might Future Thermal Areas Open In Yellowstone National Park?
National Parks Traveler
Editor’s note: Yellowstone Caldera Chronicles is a weekly column written by scientists and collaborators of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.
Scientists Say Underwater Volcano May Soon Erupt Off Oregon’s Coast – My Modern Met
My Modern Met
Alongside Yellowstone National Park, Axial Seamount is the world’s best-monitored volcano. By tracking its activity and eventual eruption, Axial …