Russia and China mostly responsible for nuclear weapons increase

FILE: President Kim Jong-un, inspects missile, North Korea
FILE: President Kim Jong-un, inspects missile, North Korea Copyright AP
By Daniel Bellamy
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On Wednesday the group Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor warned that the global arsenal of nuclear weapons is increasing.

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On Wednesday the Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor group warned that the global arsenal of nuclear weapons is increasing.

In a report it stated that if all the world's known nuclear weapons were used the effect would be equal to 135,000 Hiroshima sized catastrophes.

That was the last nuclear attack when the United States bombed the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945 in an effort to force Japan to surrender and the Second World War to end.

It remains difficult to estimate how many people were killed but most numbers fall between 70,000 and 140,000.

Last year 9,440 warheads were ready to use, according to the Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor group, which worked with the Federation of American Scientists on its report.

Since January that number's believed to have gone up by 136. Around 2,900 are due to be dismantled.

There are nine nuclear states: the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, Israel, North Korea, India and Pakistan.

Increasingly in global politics Russia, China and North Korea find themselves opposing the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and to a lesser extent Israel.

India and Pakistan meanwhile, have been historical foes since the partition of India in 1947 and have gone to war at least three times since then.

In its report the group blames China and Russia for producing most of this year's additional nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile the war in Ukraine has increased the possibility of a nuclear conflict.

The infamous "Doomsday clock" published by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists stands at 90 seconds to midnight.

On its website it states that because of the mounting dangers of the war in Ukraine "the Clock now stands at 90 seconds to midnight — the closest to global catastrophe it has ever been."

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