op-ed:Thermobaric Weapons: The Hot New Military Toy

Thermobaric weapons seem to be the latest new big thing. The bombs are literally heat under pressure if you translate the word to Greek. Instead of using uranium or platinum to wipe out a city of people these bombs use aluminum and magnesium.

So why are they the next big bad? Think about a flamethrower and max it out a whole bunch. That's what Thermobaric weapons are in a huge nutshell. These bad boys can level several apartment buildings at once. They can be dropped from a plane or fired from a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. All super powers need these handy bombs. Just ask the Russians who are testing their brand this week. According to CBC News the Russians announced that it was the biggest and most powerful Thermobaric weapon to date. Gosh, they have the niftiest toys. That nifty bomb the Russians toyed around this week was the most powerful non-nuclear weapon ever exploded. It had a blast radius of 300 metres making it four times more powerful than anything the United States has to offer. The U.S. bomb has a destructive force equivalent to 10 tonnes of TNT, while Russia says its bomb is equivalent to 40 tonnes. Let's hope these two super powers don't want to play one upmanship games with their new toys. But say, let's ask the fun question of how someone would um die if they were caught in the blast. Crushed to death is the right answer. Don't worry though chances are you'd be a cinder before that. The blasts reach 3,000 degrees. The good news is that even though these babies can go in tunnels and blow things up like nobody's business they are eco friendly! They don't make nasty radiation litter everywhere. Now that just makes this bomb tops on my list. Right now the lucky four to own these eco-friendly bombs are India, China, Russia and the United States. I don't know about you but I just have this warm and tingly feeling knowing that the super powers all have this hot new killing machine on hand. Oh and if you were wondering why no one has said to stop playing and read the treaty that says No-No. It's because there isn't one. Human Rights Watch objects to the weapons saying

they have the potential to "kill and injure in a particularly brutal manner over a wide area."

Russia says the bomb it tested isn't violating any treaty it has signed. The Arms Control Association says there are no treaties that prevent the development of thermobaric weapons, although they could conceivably fall under a protocol of the Convention on Conventional Weapons, which prohibits incendiary weapons.