INDIA:'WE WILL SURVIVE NUCLEAR WAR'

Times of London and Ananova ^ | Monday December 31, 2001 00:03 GMT | What Tomorrow's Papers Say Column

[codebreaker]

What the Papers Say-The London Times Monday December 31, 2001 00:03 GMT

WE'LL SURVIVE NUCLEAR WAR, SAYS INDIA

India boasted yesterday that it would survive a first strike by a Pakistani atomic weapon, but its neighbour would be wiped out in a swift nuclear counter attack.

[mikeIII]

What needs to be read into this is that Pakistan has made thinly veiled threats of using nukes and India is responding by saying if you do, we'll survive but you will be wiped out.

This is deterrent talk - not "stupid" talk.

[billbears]

I'm hoping that war does happen over for one reason... A stray nuke or two might find it's way into Osama's Hide Out. Besides, if Nuclear War spreads it can only get rid of people who would eventually grow up to hate America anyway.

And all I can say to that is thank God you're not in control of any nuclear weapons. While these two nuclear powers lob their short range bombs at each other, consider a couple of things

1. Who does China back of the two and how would it benefit them if India started the war? It would give them the excuse to challenge the US for, as they would see it, interfering in their backyard. And I'm guessing the US doesn't have 200 million soldiers in that region just at the moment
2. I don't know about you, but I imagine the Chinese are going to be jumping for joy at the possiblility of radioactive fallout over their most populated region. And please don't come back with an intelligent quip like 'We'll just bomb them too' because you haven't even considered the Russians, the Japanese, the North Koreans, just loads of fun countries, some our allies, some not that would be affected directly by any form of nuclear war

[TRY ONE]

Hey, Nuclear War....Just means one less egg to fry! Lose 100 million here, 100 mil there....pretty soon they will get their farm land back.

[muawiyah]

Islamics have not been "trying" to take over India for hundreds of years - they already have a history of actually ruling India for several hundred years.

[Bogey78O]

Are you sure about that. There was an article on FR earlier citing the raw nuclear material in each country and how many bombs each country could make.

[MindBender26]

Sorry, but your numbers are quite wrong. India has 60-100 warheads and very effective misslile delivery systems. With problems in Afgan, Pakistan has been forced to move warheads from a forward deployed situation.

India also has much better "generalship."

[Bogey78O]

The last thing we need is a nuclear war ever. But if a nuke war happened now the dmage would be less severe than if it did happen 20 years down the line once Korea and China have sufficieant long range weapons capable of hitting any US city. That way they can duke it out and weaken themsleves while the Us can keep clear.

But still nuke war now is still a bad thing.

[VaBthang4]

This is what happens when you dont have any Nuclear strikes in a generation.

A bunch of idiots who dont comprehend what a Nuclear strike even means. They cannot comprehend the responsibility involved and you get a bunch of loose talk about their use.

I wouldnt be surprised if these two heathen nations lobbed a couple at each other before they figure it out.

[mikeIII]

I thought Pakistan said that they agreed not to use them, is this India's way of saving face?

No they didn't. Even if they had, you don't trust an islamist's word to any infidel.

[Nogbad]

Dr. Strangelove is still alive!

[borghead]

India does not have the missle and nuke capability to strike let alone destroy china. Right now india has about 60 fission warheads, with 70 scud type missles with range of 200 kilometers to deliver them. The agni program is not yet compelete, no indian IRBMs have yet been deployed. China on the other hand has 50 fully operational IRBMs with 5 mirved thermonuclear warheads each, on the tibeten plateau alone. If a nuke fight comes out, india will not be able to reach any significant chinese target, even Lahsa is too far away, while China can wipe out 300 indian cities in a few minutes. Nuclear war is not a viable option for India.

[Libertarian_4_eva]

Well technically it's true. Pak has about 2 dozen bombs. India has about 60-70 as well as 3 times the population and a superior army.

Technically you and them are right but the real question is would they be able to survive living in india after 24 nuclear weapons or even 12 crushed some of their major cities? Not to mention what would happen to their ability to feed themselfs. Tens of millions who would survive would pour out of india and settle in other nations. I can see thousands of small and large indian merchant ships filled with tens of thousands of indians just beaching on the shores of other nations.

[CHATTAB]

It was mere speculation on my part... So what's the angle here? What does each country in the region stand to gain by a war?

[mikeIII]

India has far more than "10 -15" against Pakistan's "30-40". India's nuclear capability was initially developed with China in mind.

[lavrenti]

Pakistan has not the viable nuke program which can mount even a basic assault on India. So they blew a half-megaton device in the side of a mountain. So what? With that, Chinese missle technology and a buck-fifty you too can get on the New York City subway.

Pakistan wouldn't even know what hit them the moment India attacks. Do not think for a minute that their vaunted "nukes" will survive even a limited air attack.

Pakistan, like the Taliban, made a choice. It was a poor one.

[borghead]

There can be no gain in a nuke war, everybody loses, such weapons are best not used. But if say India and China gets into a war over Pakistan, and suppose it goes nuclear, we can safely say that India currently does not have a remote chance of surviving. The gap in missle and nuke tech between China and India is even greater than the Gap betweent the U.S and China. And even then theres no garuntee that the other powers will stand still, why the Chinese are busy vaporising the Indians, the Russians may nuke China, and then all of Eurasia and East Asia goes out, this conflict could become WWIII real fast.

[Don Joe]

"The owners of a 7-Eleven and a Mini-Mart down the street got in a price war, something over Slim Jims"

Oh, great. Someone finally has a price war over Slim Jims, and I missed it. Story of my life. Let me guess -- it probably happened right before deer season too, right?

[ambrose]

And if there is chaos, you can count on Saddam unloading his chemical wad on Israel... and Israel will then fry Iraq.... oh the fun of it all.

[PatrioticAmerican]

...as all the cockroaches say, "Yeah? So? What's your point? Pass the cheeze wiz."