The Day After

Older Gen-X kids will remember ...

When I was a teen the world survived Able Archer 83, between November 7th and 11th of 1983. The movie The Day After came out November 20th. Below is the trailer, the full movie is readily available on YouTube.

My father had eight brothers and sisters, while my mom had nine. The oldest were born in the late teens, the youngest just before my paternal grandfather died in 1947. More than half of the men, uncles by birth or by marriage, had served during World War II or Korea. I recall a lively discussion at Thanksgiving dinner that year.

The British OMG let’s not have a nuclear war movie, Threads, is even more grim than ours, and it came out in September of 1984, refreshing the discussion the next year.

Ukraine has hinted at having a nuclear weapons program. They certainly have the material and skills to do such a thing. Japan has said they do not yet have, but would only need thirty days to build a bomb of their own, and South Korea is similarly accomplished. Taiwan has reactors and manufacturing, but less of what they’d specifically need.

Sweden, should they feel the urge, will finish their first bomb in a month, and Finland is similarly capable. Germany, too, and I would not have guessed, but Peter Zeihan says Romania would rapidly join the club as well.

Perhaps those of you who are younger Gen-X, Millennials, or Zoomers, without clear memories of the Cold War, should arrange a watch party.