Here's a piece of news that should really play well to our ever-greening pop culture leaders. It seems that Colonel General Aleksandr Rukshin, the deputy chief of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, said yesterday that Russia has created the world's most powerful vacuum bomb, as deadly as any nuclear weapon yet devised. Indeed, the Father of All Bombs has "no match in the world" and is currently being tested at an unspecified military site by being dropped from a Tu-160 (White Swan or Blackjack) strategic bomber.But here's the great news -- the good colonel assured his audience that the vacuum bomb was "environmentally friendly, compared to a nuclear bomb." That is to say, it does not contaminate the environment like those messy bombs created by the imperialist capitalists of the United States. No sir; the new, clean bomb of the Russians simply detonates ultrasonic shockwave and incredibly high temperatures. As Rukshin then put it, "All that is alive merely evaporates."
How nice.
Of course, the colonel went on to emphasize that this development didn't signify any kick start to a new Cold War with the West. Its introduction does not violate any international agreement to which Russia is a signatory, and "Russia is not starting a new arms race." All it's for is "to safeguard our state's security and fight international terrorism in any circumstances and in any part of the world."
Uh, it's that "in any part of the world" that bothers me. Because even with the guarantee that I won't die from radiation poisoning, I'm still not that keen on being evaporized.
But I'm glad that Al Gore will sleep easier.
