This Is What a Chinese Nuclear War Against
America Would Look Like (Source The National Interest)
Let’s
hope that these are just academic discussions in the Chinese context and do not
reflect actual weapons under development. When one reads enough Chinese naval
literature, diagrams of multi-axial cruise missile saturation attacks against
aircraft carrier groups may begin to seem normal. However, one particular
graphic from the October 2015 issue of the naval
journal Naval & Merchant Ships. stands out as both unusual and
singularly disturbing. It purports to map the impact of a Chinese
intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) strike by twenty nuclear-armed
rockets against the United States. Targets include the biggest cities on the
East and West Coasts, as well as in the Midwest, as one would expect. Giant
radiation plumes cover much of the country and the estimate in the caption
holds that the strike “would yield perhaps 50 million people killed”. The map below
that graphic on the same page illustrates the optimal aim point for a hit on
New York City with a “blast wave” that vaporizes all of Manhattan and well
beyond.
Rabbits, sharks, whales, and bees — species
are threatened with extinction in New England (Source bostonglobe.com) Scientists sounded the alarm on the sad state and
frightening future of the natural world in a report saying extinction
looms for more than 1 million species of plants and animals worldwide. There
are endangered species in our own backyard, here in New England. Biologists at
the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, maintain
a detailed online database of
threatened species,
known as the “Red List.” So far they’ve only studied a small fraction of the
Earth’s 8 million species. But already, they’ve found more than 27,000 species
are threatened with extinction out of nearly 100,000 examined in depth. In New
England, there are eight “critically-endangered” species, including a type
of turtle, two kinds of bees, as well as several trees and other plants. More turtles, including the wood turtle, and bees are on the list
of 18 “endangered” species in our region, along with the North Atlantic right whale, a species of mussel, a type of beetle, a type of bat, and two types of fish called skates, which resemble stingrays. Another
33 species that can be found in New England are considered “vulnerable,”
including types of sharks, the New England cottontail
rabbit,
the American horseshoe crab, and a species of seahorse. And then there are 37 more
species in our region that are considered “near threatened” — more sharks,
skates, fish, turtles, bats, plants, fungi, mussels, and a type of snail.