Posted on 07/14/2006 7:25:04 AM PDT by Ultra Sonic 007
Ping.
MAD is out the windows not becasue Iran's President and the jihadis are nuts, but because if Iran attacked the US with a nuke, the Assured Destruction would not be Mutual.
MAD is also out the window because the US is fast becoming like the USSR of old: the government decides the rights of the people.
The Soviets were not suicidal, and neither were we. This is the basis of MAD. This no longer applies when suicide is the OBJECT of one of the constituents of the policy. War is inevitable.........
MAD doesn't work vis-a-vis Iran. But it can if you face reality. The reality is this, without Russia and China Iran is powerless. Russia and China are hellbent on either engaging us in open war or weakening us by any means possible, you know, the Cold War Part Duex. OK, fine, its time to stop pussy footing around with these two and call it like it is. Tell China and Russia that since they want a new Cold War you will give them one.
If Iran is their client state they must control it. How about this for starters if Iran or North Korea for that matter launches an attack directly or indirectly against the U.S. or its allies, it will be regarded as a DIRECT attack upon the U.S. by Russia and/or China. If that attack is nuclear, then Russia and China are basically enabling Iran to end the world.
See how fun it is for Russia and China then. If Putin wants to re-start the Cold War, I suggest that he remember that at least the old Soviet Union had an iron fisted control over its client states.
"Tell China and Russia that since they want a new Cold War you will give them one. "
Silly person... then what would we sell at WalMart?
There are always other options for cheap goods, always. Global strategy is fluid. Nixon played the China card, Bush can play the Vietnam card. This notion that China is the only country capable of producing cheap goods is silly. As a matter of fact, talk about MAD China would be more devastated than us if we were to revoke MFN status and shift our trade to elsehwere.
"There are always other options for cheap goods, always. "
That's a swing and a miss....
Much of the goods coming out of China are either coming from American owned factories, or joint ventures with American companies. Given that lobbies control our government, you have a better chance of winning your state lotto than seeing our government take an aggressive stance with China.
Nice post, son.
Sounds like the Christian thing to do would be to help our neighbor achieve his goal.
After all, martydumb is the ONLY* way they can get into heaven. Well that and something about kissing a turd colored rock in the middle of the desert might maybe improve their chances of eternal bliss.
So lets send muuhhamhead (Pigs be inseminating him) to his reward, before he sends us to ours!!!
All should be reminded that there are over one billion Muslims on the planet, and that tomorrow there can be six hundred million!!
Kind of like expecting government to do anything about oil prices and financing of terrorists with US dollars paid for fuels.
While the most radical in Iran would sacrifice their country to further Islam, I doubt many military leaders would willingly commit nuclear suicide. The bomb is more important to the Iranians as a blackmail weapon than in actual use. North Korea is another case and I would worry that the robot like thinking cultivated for 50+ years by the "Dear Leader" could lead to launching a nuclear weapon at Japan or the US or a massive artillary attack on Seoul.
Yet we almost DID face MAD without even knowing about it. The incident didn't come to light for 15 years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov
Stanislav Yefgrafovich Petrov (Russian: Ñòàíèñëàâ Åâãðàôîâè÷ Ïåòðîâ) (born c. 1939) is a retired Russian Strategic Rocket Forces colonel who, on September 26, 1983, averted a potential nuclear war by refusing to believe that the United States had launched missiles against the USSR, despite the indications given by his computerized early warning systems. The Soviet computer reports were later shown to have been in error, and Petrov is credited with preventing World War III and the devastation of much of the Earth by nuclear weapons. Because of military secrecy and international policy, Petrov's actions were kept secret until 1998.This incident is one of several high-risk decisions that were made by strategic nuclear forces over the years of the Cold War, often at the last minute, by administrative personnel far from the chain of command.
Here's a page about Petrov.
If I had to grade this paper in my English class, you'd receive an A+ for cogent delivery, clear writing, a tightly organized argument, and an ability to make history come alive in the mind of the reader. Excellent work. Thanks for posting this.
I've been thinking the same thoughts about Islamofascism since reading Huntington's book "The Clash of Civilizations." An all-out nuclear war seems to be the goal of these people, not something to be avoided. I would have never believed at some point in my life to consider the Communists sane or logical, but your argument is sound. I could see the capitals of Europe wiped out in a nuclear exchange and armies of Moslems marching north and west to claim the terrority even as those cities burned.
On the other hand, I also have this vision: after several cities in the United States are nuked, the president comes out and says that he's very sad about Mecca and Medina turned into glassy craters in the desert, but he couldn't do anything to stop that captain in a submarine from disobeying orders and acting in an irrational manner. Heh heh heh.
Given the current and prevailing possibility of another Cuban Missile Crisis 2.0 taking place in Ukraine, does the world need to wake up concerning MAD not still being applicable?
Needless to say, this particular idea from a post over 16 years old is far less refined than how I would put it now.
Given that it explicitly dealt with the matter of nuclear weapons vis-a-vis radical Islam (Ahmadinejad-era Iran, specifically), the current situation with Russia/Ukraine is not applicable.
As far as Russia is concerned, MAD is still very much a reality.
Understood, just asking questions.
Appreciate your thoughts.
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