World's Most Powerful Nuclear Weapon Isn't Owned by US, or China, Only One Country Has It, and it is…
The Tsar Bomba was a Soviet hydrogen bomb and remains the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated in history.
Tsar Bomba: In May 2025, India and Pakistan teetered on the brink of nuclear war following a devastating terrorist attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 28 civilians, mostly Hindu tourists. India attributed the attack to Pakistan-based militants, leading to retaliatory airstrikes under 'Operation Sindoor,' targeting militant camps in Pakistan. Pakistan responded with 'Operation Bunyan al-Marsus,' launching drone and missile attacks on Indian cities, including Poonch, Srinagar, and Jaisalmer among others.
The rapid escalation, involving drone warfare and missile exchanges, marked the most severe confrontation between the nuclear-armed neighbors in decades. A U.S.-brokered ceasefire temporarily halted hostilities, but violations were reported soon after, underscoring the fragile nature of peace in the region. The Tsar Bomba: A Stark Reminder of Nuclear Devastation
Amidst the heightened tensions between India and Pakistan, the specter of nuclear warfare loomed large. This situation evokes memories of the Tsar Bomba, the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated. Developed by the Soviet Union in 1961, the Tsar Bomba had a yield of 50 megatons, making it over 3,000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Its detonation over Novaya Zemlya produced a fireball eight kilometers wide and a mushroom cloud that soared over 60 kilometers into the atmosphere. The explosion shattered windows hundreds of kilometers away and was visible from 1,000 kilometers. A Weapon of Demonstration, Not Deployment
Despite its unparalleled destructive power, the Tsar Bomba was never intended for practical use in warfare. Its immense size and weight rendered it impractical for deployment, requiring a specially modified bomber for its single test. The bomb served as a demonstration of the Soviet Union's nuclear capabilities during the Cold War, symbolizing the terrifying potential of nuclear armament. Lessons for Today
The recent India-Pakistan conflict underscores the persistent threat of nuclear escalation in regional disputes. The Tsar Bomba serves as a historical testament to the catastrophic potential of nuclear weapons. As nations continue to grapple with geopolitical tensions, the importance of diplomatic engagement and nuclear disarmament becomes ever more critical to prevent history from repeating itself.
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Time of India
25 minutes ago
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Indian Express
28 minutes ago
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Montek Singh Ahluwalia at Idea Exchange: ‘China challenged the US and what's been unleashed is the weaponisation of tariffs'
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The logical way to deal with the loss of jobs in the older industries would have been to encourage new industries, where the US is competitive, to expand in the states being hollowed out and to reskill the workforce in these areas. On US tariffs | The US tariff action has created a great deal of uncertainty. This may well be a deliberate tactic to give theM a bargaining advantage by unsettling trading partners but this will affect investment, including FDI The second US concern is the remarkable rise of China. They clearly thought that integrating China into the global system would make China more like other democracies but that didn't happen. China has gained enormously from globalisation but it has also explicitly stated a confrontational objective of challenging the US economically, technologically and also militarily. The Biden administration had adopted a targeted policy of constructing trade restrictions on China, especially in sensitive areas. What has been unleashed now is a much broader weaponisation of tariffs against many more countries. This seems to be driven by the spurious argument that they are running trade surpluses. Most economists don't think one should worry about bilateral trade balances, and especially trade balances in goods while leaving out services. The US/EU position exemplifies the problem. The US is running a large trade deficit against the EU in goods but it has an almost equal sized surplus in services. Taking goods and services together, the US/EU trade is balanced. The problem is the US is not just any country. If the US were a small country, then we could point out its errors and simply refuse to enter into any such negotiations. But the US is the largest economy in the world and the largest importer and therefore, in principle, the largest market. So you cannot ignore it. Therefore, even though their position is not theoretically defensible, most countries are trying to see what they can get out of it through negotiation. Ravi Dutta Mishra: Our unwillingness to open up to China led to us abandoning RCEP. Can we just open up to the West and ignore RCEP? That's a very important point. Asia is where most of the growth will take place in the future and we should certainly not ignore it. As you said, we backed out of signing the RCEP agreement because our producers lobbied that they can't compete if duty-free access is given to Chinese imports. It is true that China is widely regarded as a non-transparent trader which subsidises its exports in many ways. However, if this was the main reason for not signing RCEP, we should apply to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trade Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). This grouping does not include China but covers other important Asian countries, including Japan and South Korea. 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We have to realise that while granting protection is a simple solution, it only helps the industry protected, while hurting others, all of whom suffer from the same handicaps. Exports are particularly badly hit by protection because it only raises the domestic cost structure, making exports less competitive. I should point out that our exports have done very poorly in the past five years and this also the period when we started raising import duties. P Vaidyanathan Iyer: What do you think of the PLI type schemes which are designed to encourage the domestic industry. Do you see this as tantamount to protection or are they stepping stones for the industry to prepare for global competition? PLIs are a way of protecting the industry by extending a subsidy. It has the advantage of providing support without raising the price of the protected product as would happen if duties were raised. The cost is borne by the budget. 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China has already weaponised this monopoly. The solution in such cases clearly lies in building access to these items wherever they are available from other countries and perhaps encouraging our own industry to build production capacity elsewhere. A third problem arises in the case of products, particularly advanced electronic products that can be infested with malware. For example, the use of untrusted products in key systems such as the telephone system, the air traffic control system, the electric grid, the banking and payments system, etc. present the possibility of a cyber attack which could impose serious damage. Cyber attacks are happening even without compromised equipment and we need heightened vigilance in these areas but compromised products increase our vulnerability. In such cases, countries have to resort to some combination of relying on domestic supply or importing only from 'trusted sources'. I would emphasise that these considerations should not lead to extreme positions excluding all Chinese imports. Solar cells are a good example. Solar cells are not like chips in the sense that you cannot interfere with the functioning of a solar cell from the outside. China has built capacity more than double the world's current demand for solar chips, as a result of which the price of solar chips has collapsed globally. Importing these chips will allow us to expand our solar generation capacity rapidly and reduce the cost of solar electricity. Should we benefit from this or insist on domestic production of chips at a higher cost? We need to evolve a carefully tailored policy that allows us to derive the benefits of trade with China, without making us vulnerable to pressure. On indian tariffs | President Trump has described India as a tariff king and he is right. Our tariffs are much higher than most other developing countries. I have consistently said they should be reduced in our own interest Sandeep Singh: While the Trump tariffs have caused a disruption, is there some positive effect for Indian manufacturing? The only possible positive effect we can expect is if the US wants to discourage imports from China-centred supply lines and shift to supply lines based on more trusted partners. If India is treated as a more trusted partner, then it creates an opportunity. Of course, the extent of benefit will depend upon whether we can attract the FDI and technology needed to fit into the altered supply chain. Some shifting out of China has been taking place but the countries that benefited were Vietnam and Malaysia, not India. A good example of what looks like a success is the possibility that India-made iPhones will serve a large part of the US market. I have seen reports of President Trump saying he wants Apple to produce all iPhones for the American market domestically. 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Indian Express
43 minutes ago
- Indian Express
The Indian Express will launch its Patna edition today, eleventh across the country
The Indian Express, with its unique blend of investigative and explanatory journalism and commitment to fairness and accuracy, now comes to Bihar. On Monday, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will grace the launch of the Patna edition of The Indian Express, the 11th edition of the daily published from centres across India. The launch of the Patna edition is taking place in the month that marks 50 years of an inglorious chapter in Indian democracy — the imposition of Emergency in 1975. And it was The Indian Express, under Ramnath Goenka, which took the lead in opposing the suspension of fundamental rights, the muzzling of the Press and the excesses of the authorities. It published a blank editorial to protest the removal of content by censors. Goenka was very close to Jayaprakash Narayan who gave a clarion call against Indira Gandhi's government from the Ramlila Grounds in Delhi in June, a year after his call for Sampoorna Kranti from the Gandhi Maidan in Patna. Incidentally, Nitish Kumar was among the youth leaders who responded to JP's call and played a key role in opposing the draconian measures that Emergency ushered in. Announcing the launch of the Patna edition, Viveck Goenka, Chairman and Managing Director of The Indian Express Group, said, 'For us, this is also a homecoming. Our founder, Ramnath Goenka Ji, was born in Darbhanga and had close ties with Jayaprakash Narayan. Bihar has always been crucial in the national discourse. Launching our Patna edition is a milestone for The Indian Express because the people in Bihar, known for their acute political sense and social conscience, deserve the best of journalism that does justice to their needs and aspirations.' Currently, The Indian Express publishes from 10 centres: Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune and Vadodara. The Patna edition is being launched months before Bihar heads to crucial Assembly elections. Bihar's rich cultural and political history and recent strides in governance — from 50% quota for women in panchayats to 35% reservation in government jobs — make it a significant state to watch. Santosh Singh is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express since June 2008. He covers Bihar with main focus on politics, society and governance. Investigative and explanatory stories are also his forte. Singh has 25 years of experience in print journalism covering Bihar, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. ... Read More
