From the Times.

Should these two countries finally go at it, a number of important things will result.

First, the world will have lost its nuclear virginity. Throughout the Cold War, the nuclear weapon gained in mythological strength until it was automatically assumed by the average person that any sort of nuclear exchange would result in the end of civilization at best, and the destruction of the planet at worst. Movies, books, news and other sources of information drove this impression home. The examples of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which recovered and became bustling, wealthy cities, were lost on most people.

Civil defense became a joke. Why bother, when the world was going to end? Lifesaving equipment and radiation detectors were surplused, and can be picked up on E-Bay.

If India and Pakistan have a nuclear exchange, and the world doesn't end, others may become less reluctant to use such weapons. This will not be good.

On the other hand, the horrors that were witnessed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki will be seen again, this time on worldwide television. Maybe the world will become MORE reluctant to use such weapons. This will be good.

The thing is, the Bomb will become a real weapon, to be thought of in real terms, instead of a myth. And yes, both India and Pakistan would survive the experience. Windstorms and cyclones have killed over half a million people in India and Bangladesh since 1963, over 2 1/2 times the number of people who died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined, yet the nations survived.

I predict that more people will die in panic riots out of fear of EVIL RADIATION after a limited exchange than will die in the actual attacks.