[Tuor]

In my lifetime, I haven't felt the underlying unsettleness of the center not holding as it has since 9-11.

I've felt it my entire life, but the feeling is much stronger since 9/11. I don't think anyone really wants there to be a nuclear exchange, not even the Indians and Pakistanis, but, as in WWI and to a lesser degree WWII, human nature is winning against human reason: greed, fear, and hate are overwhelming common sense. People in places like India and Pakistan are rationalizing their actions in unreasonable ways, much as I imagine Japan did before attacking the US.

This sort of thing is *very* dangerous, and unless someone can make an emotional appeal strong enough to counteract the rampaging and deep-seated dark emotions that are floating around, eventually the other shoe *will* drop, and, as with WWI, no one can say what the result will be, except that it will be horrible.

Tuor the Pessimist

[Texasforever]

This sort of thing is *very* dangerous, and unless someone can make an emotional appeal strong enough to counteract the rampaging and deep-seated dark emotions that are floating around, eventually the other shoe *will* drop, and, as with WWI, no one can say what the result will be, except that it will be horrible.

The problem is one of both over-estimating and under-estimating the outcome of a nuclear exchange. Some see nukes as the "answer" to our situation and some see nukes as a "capability" never to be utilized. Both views are irrational.