At the beginning of the Cold War the US ran public service advertisements to inform their citizens what to do in the event of a nuclear war. Probably the most famous of these campaigns was “Duck and Cover.” Of course, this campaign was really aimed only for children as sensible adults realized that in the event of a nuclear strike on their city, there wasn’t really any chance of survival.
Two generations grew up under the threat of the mushroom cloud. The prospect of nuclear war between the US and Soviet Union was still a very real possibility right into the early 1990s. I was one of that generation who remembers the threat of nuclear war in my teenage years.
And then the Soviet Union bowed out of the Cold War. The arms race ended and the Soviet Union broke apart and had more pressing needs to deal with than nuclear arsenals. There were concerns in the west of black market ex-Soviet nukes. Then both India and Pakistan went nuclear. There were concerns about an Iraqi nuclear program, a Syrian nuclear program, a Libyan nuclear program (hmm, a theme here?). Terrorist nukes and dirty bombs, but the post 2000 generation were never really exposed to the awesome destructive power and terror of a nuclear weapon.
This is a small, early test.
Don’t worry though, the good people at New York City Emergency Management are doing their part to inform their citizens what to do in the event of a nuclear attack.
Where, honestly, do you begin? This is exactly what you would expect from a modern, woke advertising firm. Black, androgynous female, filmed in a studio to a CGI backdrop of an Ikea advertisement, complete lack of detail and pointless platitudes as guidance. ‘Duck and Cover’ was aimed at children, NYC ‘Nuclear Preparedness’ is aimed at infantile adults.
Let’s look at the advice -
Get inside and stay away from the windows. That’s actually sensible advice in this day and age of mobile phones. When something is happening - hurricane, tsunami, missile strike - people do tend to forget they are right there and stand in windows and doorways filming.
Stay inside. Basically a repeat of point one. I laughed out loud when the narrator said 'get clean. Shower and shampoo to remove any radioactive dust from your hair and clothing.’ Yes, it’s important to wash off any radioactive material as soon as possible, but if anyone thinks their hot water system will be working after a nuclear strike….well….
Stay tuned. To what? Your Wifi? The television? ‘Subscribe for updates,’ she says. After a nuclear strike the electrical grid is going to be down and a huge number of people are simply not going to know what to do because they have absolutely no common sense or resilience. It actually says something interesting about this age - wait for the government to tell you what to do.
“Doomed, we’re all frickin’ doomed!”
So the question is why and why now? Well, as I’ve said repeatedly, the ‘arsenal of democracy’ is burning through its stockpile of conventional weapons trying to prop up the disaster in Ukraine, and the Russian steamroller continues grinding all those expensive toys into dust. All these wunderwaffen are making no difference at all. HIMARS, M1777, Javelins… all just scrap. The psychos driving this bus headlong towards the cliff cannot put their foot on the brake. They don’t know what a brake is, only the accelerator. They are looking around in the cupboard for that wunderwaffen to turn the tide, but the cupboard is bare. It is only a matter of time before they reach for the only weapon left in their arsenal…. the nuclear one.
Another great read
I came across William Schryver’s blog imetatronink over the weekend and it’s a great read. I highly recommend this post comparing the Russian strategy in Ukraine to the North’s strategy in the American Civil War. Check it out!
https://www.imetatronink.com/2022/07/destroying-mother-of-all-proxy-armies.html
There's a lot to William Schryver's theory that destruction of the enemy army is the only meaningful goal in a ground war, and like you, I continue to shake my head in amazement at the prancing and chest-beating over the 'Battle of Kyiv'. However, there is yet another theory - likewise an interesting one - that the Russian army is not even trying particularly hard to annihilate the Ukrainian army, instead drawing the conflict out in a leisurely, risk-averse fashion. Various reasons have been suggested for this, and of course the west focuses on the supposed fierceness of the Ukrainian soldiers. But ask yourself why the Russians have not even bothered to blow the bridges over the Dnieper, which would complicate reinforcement of frontline Ukrainian forces.
According to Jeff Brown at The Greanville Post, it is entirely possible the Russians are running a reverse con of their own, coaxing the west to pour ever more money into Ukraine, from which they get no return at all and which is bleeding the western economy. An interesting viewpoint.
https://natyliesbaldwin.com/2022/07/did-the-west-fall-into-a-russian-trap/
Thank you for the link to William Schryver's blog. Have just read a few of his postings and I like this clear, precise and analytical style --> great read