Danger of nuclear war: 3rd USA presidential debate snippet; Accidental nuclear war possibilities
A transcript of a part of the 3rd USA presidential debate related to the danger of nuclear war, from around 33 min 13 secs of the associated youtube video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye0Xblp_Nb0, is given below:
Hillary Clinton: I find it ironic that he's raising nuclear weapons. This is a person who has been very cavalier, even casual about the use of nuclear weapons. He's...
Donald Trump: Wrong.
Clinton: .. advocated more countries getting them, Japan, Korea, even Saudi Arabia. He said, well, if we have them, why don't we use them, which I think is terrifying.
But here's the deal. The bottom line on nuclear weapons is that when the president gives the order, it must be followed. There's about four minutes between the order being given and the people responsible for launching nuclear weapons to do so. And that's why 10 people who have had that awesome responsibility have come out and, in an unprecedented way, said they would not trust Donald Trump with the nuclear codes or to have his finger on the nuclear button.
Trump: I have 200 generals...
Moderator Chris Wallace: Very quickly.
Trump: ... and admirals, 21 endorsing me, 21 congressional Medal of Honor recipients. As far as Japan and other countries, we are being ripped off by everybody in the - we're defending other countries. We are spending a fortune doing it. They have the bargain of the century.
All I said is, we have to renegotiate these agreements, because our country cannot afford to defend Saudi Arabia, Japan, Germany, South Korea, and many other places. We cannot continue to afford - she took that as saying nuclear weapons.
Wallace: OK.
Trump: Look, she's been proven to be a liar on so many different ways. This is just another lie.
Clinton: Well, I'm just quoting you when you were asked...
Trump: There's no quote. You're not going to find a quote from me.
Clinton: ... about a potential nuclear - nuclear competition in Asia, you said, go ahead, enjoy yourselves, folks. That kind of..
Trump: And defend yourselves.
Clinton: .. language - well...
Trump: And defend yourselves. I didn't say nuclear. And defend yourself.
Clinton: The United States has kept the peace - the United States has kept the peace through our alliances. Donald wants to tear up our alliances. I think it makes the world safer and, frankly, it makes the United States safer. I would work with our allies in Asia, in Europe, in the Middle East, and elsewhere. That's the only way we're going to be able to keep the peace.
--- end transcript of part of debate video ---
Here's a full transcript (annotated) of the debate, The final Trump-Clinton debate transcript, annotated, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/10/19/the-final-trump-clinton-debate-transcript-annotated/, Oct. 19th 2016
"When the president gives the order to launch a nuclear weapon, that’s it. The officer has to launch. It can take as little as four minutes.",
https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/788916533573591040, 19th Oct. 2016
Accidental Nuclear War Possibilities
Some info. on accidental nuclear possibilities and thoughts/prayers on preventing it are given below:
1) ACCIDENTAL NUCLEAR WAR: A Timeline of Close Calls, http://futureoflife.org/background/nuclear-close-calls-a-timeline/
2) It's Time to Take Our Missiles Off Hair-Trigger Alert, http://www.ucsusa.org/hairtrigger, website of "Union of Concerned Scientists; Science for a healthy planet and safer world."
This has a youtube video link (also provided in 1st link above) to The Craziest Nuclear Weapons Policy That You’ve Never Heard Of, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x_57sE1_LQ, 1 min. 54 secs, published on March 8, 2016 by Union of Concerned Scientists. I have given below a transcript of the voice-over in the video.
Stop. Just stop. Listen.
Nuclear weapons - bad, right!
Neutrons (and) a radioactive core, and boom, an explosion hotter than the core of the sun that could instantly level half of Manhattan.
We'd be crazy to keep these things hanging around. But we do. Thousands of them.
They are stuffed into submarines, bunkers and underground silos in the US heartland.
And get this. Hundreds of this cosmic scale world xx weapons are always on, always ready to fire, and can be airborne within minutes.
The military calls it prompt launch. We call it hair-trigger alert. It should be called an accident waiting to happen.
The idea is that if we think we see incoming nukes, we can get ours off the ground before they are destroyed. Use 'em or lose 'em, right!
Except, that's nuts!
Leaving aside the morality of vaporising people, hair-trigger is a recipe for accidental nuclear war.
The system relies on knowing when we are under attack.
Satellite and radar detects something. The military fusses it over and the president has about ten minutes to decide if the warning is real and whether to launch.
The biggest decision in history in the blink of an eye.
But satellite and radar can be wrong. They have been wrong before and we've been lucky! Lucky that missiles haven't been fired by mistake!
Even generals, the who's who of our military think the most likely nuclear war is an accidental one. That is one hundred percent insane!
Accident and nuclear war don't belong in the same sentence.
They shouldn't even be in the same language.
The president can and should change this but needs political support to make it happen. You can help. Let our leaders know enough gambling with our lives.
Let's take our nukes off hair-trigger alert.
--- end transcript ---
Ravi: Obviously, preventing the very scary and quite real possibility of accidental nuclear war due to these hair-trigger alerts, can happen only when the major nuclear powers, USA and Russia develop at least some degree of trust in each other and come up with some mechanism to avoid accidental nuclear war that is acceptable to both these major nuclear powers (USA and Russia). We also have other nuclear powers in the world. Among the other nuclear powers, I have to mention India (where I live as an Indian citizen) and Pakistan. I earnestly pray to Almighty God to shower His Grace on humanity by enabling mechanisms to avoid accidental nuclear war between the major nuclear powers (and other nuclear powers as well).
3) Close Calls with Nuclear Weapons (2015), http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear-weapons/hair-trigger-alert/close-calls, Union of Concerned Scientists.
Please note that I have a PUBLICLY NEUTRAL informal-student-observer role in these posts that I put up about the USA presidential elections. Of course, as I am an Indian citizen living in India, there is no question of me voting in these elections.
[I thank Commission on Presidential Debates (http://www.debates.org/), washingtonpost.com and Union of Concerned Scientists and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above transcripts of youtube videos on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
Hillary Clinton: I find it ironic that he's raising nuclear weapons. This is a person who has been very cavalier, even casual about the use of nuclear weapons. He's...
Donald Trump: Wrong.
Clinton: .. advocated more countries getting them, Japan, Korea, even Saudi Arabia. He said, well, if we have them, why don't we use them, which I think is terrifying.
But here's the deal. The bottom line on nuclear weapons is that when the president gives the order, it must be followed. There's about four minutes between the order being given and the people responsible for launching nuclear weapons to do so. And that's why 10 people who have had that awesome responsibility have come out and, in an unprecedented way, said they would not trust Donald Trump with the nuclear codes or to have his finger on the nuclear button.
Trump: I have 200 generals...
Moderator Chris Wallace: Very quickly.
Trump: ... and admirals, 21 endorsing me, 21 congressional Medal of Honor recipients. As far as Japan and other countries, we are being ripped off by everybody in the - we're defending other countries. We are spending a fortune doing it. They have the bargain of the century.
All I said is, we have to renegotiate these agreements, because our country cannot afford to defend Saudi Arabia, Japan, Germany, South Korea, and many other places. We cannot continue to afford - she took that as saying nuclear weapons.
Wallace: OK.
Trump: Look, she's been proven to be a liar on so many different ways. This is just another lie.
Clinton: Well, I'm just quoting you when you were asked...
Trump: There's no quote. You're not going to find a quote from me.
Clinton: ... about a potential nuclear - nuclear competition in Asia, you said, go ahead, enjoy yourselves, folks. That kind of..
Trump: And defend yourselves.
Clinton: .. language - well...
Trump: And defend yourselves. I didn't say nuclear. And defend yourself.
Clinton: The United States has kept the peace - the United States has kept the peace through our alliances. Donald wants to tear up our alliances. I think it makes the world safer and, frankly, it makes the United States safer. I would work with our allies in Asia, in Europe, in the Middle East, and elsewhere. That's the only way we're going to be able to keep the peace.
--- end transcript of part of debate video ---
Here's a full transcript (annotated) of the debate, The final Trump-Clinton debate transcript, annotated, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/10/19/the-final-trump-clinton-debate-transcript-annotated/, Oct. 19th 2016
"When the president gives the order to launch a nuclear weapon, that’s it. The officer has to launch. It can take as little as four minutes.",
https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/788916533573591040, 19th Oct. 2016
Accidental Nuclear War Possibilities
Some info. on accidental nuclear possibilities and thoughts/prayers on preventing it are given below:
1) ACCIDENTAL NUCLEAR WAR: A Timeline of Close Calls, http://futureoflife.org/background/nuclear-close-calls-a-timeline/
2) It's Time to Take Our Missiles Off Hair-Trigger Alert, http://www.ucsusa.org/hairtrigger, website of "Union of Concerned Scientists; Science for a healthy planet and safer world."
This has a youtube video link (also provided in 1st link above) to The Craziest Nuclear Weapons Policy That You’ve Never Heard Of, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x_57sE1_LQ, 1 min. 54 secs, published on March 8, 2016 by Union of Concerned Scientists. I have given below a transcript of the voice-over in the video.
Stop. Just stop. Listen.
Nuclear weapons - bad, right!
Neutrons (and) a radioactive core, and boom, an explosion hotter than the core of the sun that could instantly level half of Manhattan.
We'd be crazy to keep these things hanging around. But we do. Thousands of them.
They are stuffed into submarines, bunkers and underground silos in the US heartland.
And get this. Hundreds of this cosmic scale world xx weapons are always on, always ready to fire, and can be airborne within minutes.
The military calls it prompt launch. We call it hair-trigger alert. It should be called an accident waiting to happen.
The idea is that if we think we see incoming nukes, we can get ours off the ground before they are destroyed. Use 'em or lose 'em, right!
Except, that's nuts!
Leaving aside the morality of vaporising people, hair-trigger is a recipe for accidental nuclear war.
The system relies on knowing when we are under attack.
Satellite and radar detects something. The military fusses it over and the president has about ten minutes to decide if the warning is real and whether to launch.
The biggest decision in history in the blink of an eye.
But satellite and radar can be wrong. They have been wrong before and we've been lucky! Lucky that missiles haven't been fired by mistake!
Even generals, the who's who of our military think the most likely nuclear war is an accidental one. That is one hundred percent insane!
Accident and nuclear war don't belong in the same sentence.
They shouldn't even be in the same language.
The president can and should change this but needs political support to make it happen. You can help. Let our leaders know enough gambling with our lives.
Let's take our nukes off hair-trigger alert.
--- end transcript ---
Ravi: Obviously, preventing the very scary and quite real possibility of accidental nuclear war due to these hair-trigger alerts, can happen only when the major nuclear powers, USA and Russia develop at least some degree of trust in each other and come up with some mechanism to avoid accidental nuclear war that is acceptable to both these major nuclear powers (USA and Russia). We also have other nuclear powers in the world. Among the other nuclear powers, I have to mention India (where I live as an Indian citizen) and Pakistan. I earnestly pray to Almighty God to shower His Grace on humanity by enabling mechanisms to avoid accidental nuclear war between the major nuclear powers (and other nuclear powers as well).
3) Close Calls with Nuclear Weapons (2015), http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear-weapons/hair-trigger-alert/close-calls, Union of Concerned Scientists.
Please note that I have a PUBLICLY NEUTRAL informal-student-observer role in these posts that I put up about the USA presidential elections. Of course, as I am an Indian citizen living in India, there is no question of me voting in these elections.
[I thank Commission on Presidential Debates (http://www.debates.org/), washingtonpost.com and Union of Concerned Scientists and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above transcripts of youtube videos on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
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