IndoPak Nuclear War Would Kill 2 Billion People, End Civilization with famine | Study

[wiqi21]

WASHINGTON: A nuclear war between India and Pakistan would set off a global famine that could kill two billion people and effectively end human civilization, a study said Tuesday.

Even if limited in scope, a conflict with nuclear weapons would wreak havoc in the atmosphere and devastate crop yields, with the effects multiplied as global food markets went into turmoil, the report said.

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and Physicians for Social Responsibility released an initial peer-reviewed study in April 2012 that predicted a nuclear famine could kill more than a billion people.

In a second edition, the groups said they widely underestimated the impact in China and calculated that the world's most populous country would face severe food insecurity.

“A billion people dead in the developing world is obviously a catastrophe unparalleled in human history. But then if you add to that the possibility of another 1.3 billion people in China being at risk, we are entering something that is clearly the end of civilization,” said Ira Helfand, the report's author.

Helfand said that the study looked at India and Pakistan due to the longstanding tensions between the nuclear-armed states, which have fought three full-fledged wars since independence and partition in 1947.

But Helfand said that the planet would expect a similar apocalyptic impact from any limited nuclear war. Modern nuclear weapons are far more powerful than the US bombs that killed more than 200,000 people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

“With a large war between the United States and Russia, we are talking about the possible, not certain, but possible, extinction of the human race.

“In this kind of war, biologically there are going to be people surviving somewhere on the planet but the chaos that would result from this will dwarf anything we've ever seen,” Helfand said.

The study said that the black carbon aerosol particles kicked into the atmosphere by a South Asian nuclear war would reduce US corn and soybean production by around 10 percent over a decade.

The particles would also reduce China's rice production by an average of 21 percent over four years and by another 10 percent over the following six years.

The updated study also found severe effects on China's wheat, which is vital to the country despite its association with rice.

China's wheat production would plunge by 50 per cent the first year after the nuclear war and would still be 31 per cent below baseline a decade later, it said.

The study said it was impossible to estimate the exact impact of nuclear war. He called for further research, voicing alarm that policymakers in nuclear powers were not looking more thoroughly at the idea of a nuclear famine.

But he said, ultimately, the only answer was the abolition of nuclear weapons.

“This is a disaster so massive in scale that really no preparation is possible. We must prevent this,” he said.

President Barack Obama pledged in 2009 to work toward abolition but said that the United States would keep nuclear weapons so long as others exist.

Nine countries are believed to possess nuclear weapons, with Russia and the United States holding the vast majority.

 

[Lil Mathew]

A nuclear war between South Asian rivals India and Pakistan would trigger a global famine that would immediately kill 2 billion people around the world and spell the “end of human civilization,” according to a study by an anti-nuclear group. The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) also warned that even a limited nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan would destroy crop yields, damage the atmosphere and throw global food markets into chaos. China, the world’s most populous country, would face a catastrophic food shortage that would lead to enormous social convulsions.

“A billion people dead in the developing world is obviously a catastrophe unparalleled in human history,” said Ira Helfand, co-president of PSR and the study's lead author. “But then if you add to that the possibility of another 1.3 billion people in China being at risk, we are entering something that is clearly the end of civilization.” Helfand explained that China’s destruction would be caused by longstanding tensions between its neighbors, India and Pakistan, two enemies that have already fought three wars since 1947. Moreover, given the apocalyptic power of contemporary nuclear weapons – which are far more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 – the impact of an India-Pakistan war would be felt across the globe.
“With a large war between the United States and Russia, we are talking about the possible, not certain, but possible, extinction of the human race,” Helfand said, according to Agence France Presse. “In this kind of war, biologically there are going to be people surviving somewhere on the planet but the chaos that would result from this [South Asian nuclear war] will dwarf anything we've ever seen.”
Specifically, the study noted, a nuclear war in South Asia would release black carbon aerosol particles that would cut U.S. corn and soybean production by 10 percent over a decade. Those particles would also reduce Chinese rice production by an average of 21 percent over four-year period and by another 10 percent over the subsequent six years. Even more devastating, China’s wheat crop would drop by 50 percent in just the first year after the hypothetical Indo-Pak nuclear war.
CNN reported that there are at least 17,000 nuclear warheads (other reports suggest that there are perhaps as many as 20,000) around the world, which present a far greater threat than the current obsession with Iran’s nascent atomic program. Most of these warheads are currently owned by the United States and Russia, while India and Pakistan are believed to have “only” about 100 warheads each.
But given the state of endless enmity between India and Pakistan, they are more likely to launch a nuclear war than the superpowers who possess far more and far deadlier nuclear weapons. Helfand told CNN that in an India-Pakistan nuclear war scenario, more 20 million people would be dead within one week from the explosions, firestorms and immediate effects of radiation. “But the global consequences would be far worse,” he said.
Indeed, the firestorms produced by this imaginary South Asian war “would loft 5 million tons of soot high into the atmosphere, blocking out sunlight and dropping temperatures across the planet. This climate disruption would cause a sharp, worldwide decline in food production.” The subsequent global famine would place the lives of 870 million people in the developing world at immediate risk of starvation.
On the brighter side, Helfand indicated, a movement to ban atomic weapons of gathering storm. Helfand called for the removal of all nuclear weapons as the only way to avoid Armageddon. “This is a disaster so massive in scale that really no preparation is possible. We must prevent this,” he said.
In May of last year, seventeen nations issued a joint statement warning of the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons and advocated for their elimination. By the fall of 2013, 125 nations attached themselves to the statement. “The international community should continue to take practical steps to prevent additional countries from acquiring nuclear weapons,” Helfand said. “But this effort to prevent proliferation must be matched by real progress to eliminate the far greater danger posed by the vast arsenals that already exist. Simply put, the only way to eliminate the threat of nuclear war or risk of an accidental launch or mishap is to eliminate nuclear weapons.”

India-Pakistan Nuclear War Would Kill 2 Billion People, End Civilization: Report

 

[IBRIS]

Well thats what the westerners would like us to do, anyway. Talk to any westerner and he will say either they will nuke themselves or we will do it one day.

 

[FaujHistorian]

Well thats what the westerners would like us to do, anyway. Talk to any westerner and he will say either they will nuke themselves or we will do it one day.

Not a western thingy.


We discussed this a few days ago

India and Pakistan will destroy their own people if they use nuclear bombs and missiles

 

[FaujHistorian]

God forbid if this scenario happens. God forbid

Indians will then try to get immigrant visa to BDesh
and

Pakistanis will line up at Khyber begging Afghanistanis to let them in


Then

BDeshis will open these Indian camps on the border, complaining to the UN that they can't feed all these Indians.
--- These Damn Indians are eating all their rice

Afghanistanis will open the Pakistani camps inside their border, complaining to the UN that they can't feed all these Pakisanis
--- These damned Pakisanis are eating all their daal and bread


Well that surely will be an upgrade in lifestyle for all Indians and all Pakistanis jingoistics.

yes surely.

 

[Counter-Errorist]

What's scary is how realistic this scenario is. If you read this report pan out in a book, you'd dismiss it as cheap science fiction - like a filler plot for a post apocalyptic setting.

 

[Slayer786]

Well what would you have expected? MAD is very true. No one was expecting roses to come out of the missiles and shower us all with love and happiness. We know the consequences. In a few moments a thread will open when one country will test its missile or new nuclear capable weapons and that country members will start bragging and the others will try to belittle them by writing so what we also have this weapon to counter yours. Nah! Nah! Nah!
But still the game of macho over each other will be played. So lets bring it on.
Yeh!

 

[Jade]

This is pure exaggeration, and pointing fingers only towards India and Pakistan shows bias while there are 9 countries that are nuclear powers

 

[FaujHistorian]

This is pure exaggeration, and pointing fingers only towards India and Pakistan shows bias while there are 9 countries that are nuclear powers

Sure it is true for all 9.

But tell me if there are similar cases with two nukki bumb dumb countries on each side of hot border aka LOC.

Let's hear it.

please

 

[liall]

Sure it is true for all 9.

But tell me if there are similar cases with two nukki bumb dumb countries on each side of hot border aka LOC.

Let's hear it.

please

How ever dumb Pakistan may be but your army is strong and has some generals with a good head on their shoulders. so this is not very likely

 

[UKBengali]

Bullshit article!

So even if China's crop production drops by the predicted around 30%, does that automatically mean that 30% of people will starve? No!

All that will happen is that everyone will eat less. They will be thinner but no-one will die.

Why do people get paid so much to write utter nonsense

 

[Jade]

Sure it is true for all 9.

But tell me if there are similar cases with two nukki bumb dumb countries on each side of hot border aka LOC.

Let's hear it.

please

Remember Cuban missile crisis? People may not be always, but sometime dumb

Anyway, I will not discount the following
China vs India
China vs US
NK vs Japan
Israel vs Iran

 

[FaujHistorian]

but your army is strong and has some generals with a good head on their shoulders. so this is not very likely

Armies on both sides have good head.

But the dumb politicians cannot be trusted.

Espcially Indian politicians

who pressed the nukkie bumb button not once but twice with no provocation from Pakistan.

luckily both times the nukki bumbs were underground.

And guess what they chose the site of these dumb bumbs right next to our border.


So check your underwear before comments.



So you guys gotta keep your politicians under control

And

we will try to do the same on our side.

Bullshit article!

So even if China's crop production drops by the predicted around 30%, does that automatically mean that 30% of people will starve? No!

All that will happen is that everyone will eat less. They will be thinner but no-one will die.

Why do people get paid so much to write utter nonsense

Both Pakistan and INdia's bread basket is on the Eastern side of Indus river.

And this will be the most likely place for wars and peace.

Don't go by simple arithmatic. and percentages.

Remember Cuban missile crisis? People may not be always, but sometime dumb

Anyway, I will not discount the following
China vs India
China vs US
NK vs Japan
Israel vs Iran

Tell me if any of the countries in your examples have exploded nukkie bombs not once but twice right next to the other country's border.

Which of these countries have gone to war 3-4 times,

Which of these countries have a hot border aka LOC.



I thought INdians are smarter than the type of arguments from you.


please sit down and think it through before posting.


Thank you

 

[liall]

Armies on both sides have good head.

But the dumb politicians cannot be trusted.

Espcially Indian politicians

who pressed the nukkie bumb button not once but twice with no provocation from Pakistan.

luckily both times the nukki bumbs were underground.

And guess what they chose the site of these dumb bumbs right next to our border.


So check your underwear before comments.



So you guys gotta keep your politicians under control

And

we will try to do the same on our side.

I dont now nukes seems to have created some sort of artificial peace or else I am sure we would have had another couple of full out wars by now But the day nukes get used it will all be for nothing and any way India has no first use policy. Dont know about you guys

 

[FaujHistorian]

I dont now nukes seems to have created some sort of artificial peace

Good. you called it "artificial peace". That was my point. And no Pakistan and India went to many wars after

India exploded bombs back in 70s.

Please do not be so ignorant about your own history.

....India has no first use policy. Dont know about you guys

See my dear.

you don't read before posting.

I just asked you a simple set of questions, but you could not respond.

1. who pressed the nukkie bumb button not once but twice with no provocation from Pakistan.
-----------luckily both times the nukki bumbs were underground.
2. Guess what they chose the site of these dumb bumbs right next to our border.



So this "no first use theory" is hocus pocus.