KW: The reason why so many people the world over could die in a nuclear war anywhere is summarrised in this photo. The NZ Herald reports that  Researchers found that the resulting nuclear fires could release 16 million to 36 million tons of soot (black carbon) that would rise into the upper atmosphere, spreading around the world within weeks. The study, published in Science Advances, looks at a war scenario that could play out between India and Pakistan in 2025 when it is predicted that the two nuclear powers could have a combined 500 nuclear weapons. Co-author Alan Robock, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University, said that “such a war would threaten not only the locations where bombs might be targeted but the entire world”.

The cloud would block the sunlight reaching the surface by up to 35 per cent, cooling temperatures by up to 5C and reducing precipitation by 15 to 30 per cent.  Those sorts of temperatures haven’t been seen on earth since the last ice age and would cause “severe disruption to natural ecosystems”, according to the report. This would have a huge impact on global food production, triggering mass starvation. The report states that recovery from all these impacts would take over a decade as smoke lingers in the upper atmosphere. “Nine countries have nuclear weapons, but Pakistan and India are the only ones rapidly increasing their arsenals,” said Robock. “Because of the continuing unrest between these two nuclear-armed countries, particularly over Kashmir, it is important to understand the consequences of a nuclear war. “Nuclear weapons cannot be used in any rational scenario but could be used by accident or as a result of hacking, panic or deranged world leaders. “The only way to prevent this is to eliminate them.”  “Even a limited military conflict could evolve into a nuclear war…”

Source: Pakistani Kashmir Chief: Standoff With India May Spark Nuclear Armageddon | Zero Hedge