The biggest threat to humanity and life overall on Earth is a nuclear war, numerous experts have previously stated. According to one of them, the next global war will also be the last one, because it will eradicate the human race from the face of this planet.
Bryan Walsh, the author of the existential risk book End Times, says the most significant threat to life is a nuclear war. He explained in his book that political leaders in leading countries such as the U.S. and Russia are ‘less stable’ and more inclined to bring the calamity to the world.
There’s Always a Possibility
There are five countries that are considered to be nuclear weapons states (NWS). These are the U.S., Russia, the U.K., France, and China. However, other countries like Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea are also creating a massive nuclear repository. If a third world war were to begin between two or more of these countries, it could be the end of life on Earth.
Mr. Walsh said that these times are more dangerous to live in than the Cold War period when tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union increased to such extent that many began to fear the beginning of a nuclear war.
The journalist also said: “The biggest threat still is a nuclear war. I think we have forgotten about that or put it out of our minds, but the reality is that all those warheads are still there.”
“More countries have them now than they did during the Cold War.”
“When you talk to experts who lived through that time period, they say now is actually a more dangerous time, in part because you have less stable leaders in places like Russia and the U.S.”
He explained that nuclear weapons are being accumulated in the same manner they were during the Cold War, which is not a good sign. There was no actual control system implemented for nuclear weapons back there. They were just being created and tested, and it is truly a miracle that humanity made it through that period, he added.
“It came very close often, and it wasn’t until the 1960s that there was a real understanding that to use these weapons would not be the next war, it would be the ‘last war.'”
It’s Not a Single Threat
Back in April of this year, a report published by the House of Lords’ International Relations Committee agreed with what Mr. Walsh claims, and said that the risk of nuclear weapons being utilized is much bigger now than it has been since the Cold War.
The report noted that decaying relationships between states that possess nuclear weapons, new capabilities, and technologies are the cause behind these increasing tensions.
Another report, coming from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the organization behind the Doomsday Clock, also cited that the risk of nuclear war was one of the primary reasons for keeping the clock at two minutes to midnight.
The threat of nuclear war between leaders like the U.S., China, and Russia is still a massive threat, scientists say, but climate change is also a huge reason for concern.