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Russia's Nuclear Threat Is More Than Words

online.wsj.com — The Kremlin has 10 times as many tactical warheads as the U.S.

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phatphat 89 days ago

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13 Comments
Who Dugg It?

KJeffV, on 08/21/2008, -5/+8Schöenfeld is correct, and several issues are at play here: 1)The US has cont'd to unilaterally diminish its nuclear stockpile; 2)Russia has cont'd to build wealth w/its practically unlimited supply of crude; 3)Anyone who believed Putin would "just go away" was not paying attention; and 4)Russia has cont'd to flex—and increase!—its military muscle {eg, Arctic "exploration" & claim, naval sorties, frmr-state subjugation, rethinking Cuban support, et al.} I don't necessarily agree w/Schöenfeld per se that "a shift in the nuclear balance betw/US & Russia helped embolden the bear," but rather that thru "Russian-advantageous" circumstances & esp'y patience on their part we have found ourselves at this potentially unhappy place. Combine all this w/our loss of the Panama Canal & our rather-spread-thin military personnel availability, and we have a recipe f/disaster.

Fortunately—Thank Spaghetti Monster!—BHO has promised hope & change, so we "got that goin' f/us." Kin I get a big "Amen" . . . ?
- KJeffV, on 08/21/2008, -1/+3Of course, opinions vary, and I'm not necessarily the smartest knife in the ditty bag. Herewith, two more forays fr/guys-way-smarter-than-I☞
  
  volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_08_17-2008_08_23.shtml#1219261832
  [pls see under Wed, 20AUG, "Ilya Somin" & "Eric Posner"]
  - KJeffV, on 08/21/2008, -0/+2`N then there's this☞
    
    www.newsmax.com/morris/russia_instability/2008/08/21/123984.html
    
    Not bad, Dick`n´Eileen!
PolishLogic, on 08/21/2008, -1/+6I'm going to have to disagree with this article. A full scale nuclear war is bad for all those involved, and is the reason that it will never happen. They would have to be stupid to launch, knowing that they'll have a barrage of missiles counter-launched at them. Rinse and repeat and it's game over all the way around.

Mutually assured destruction is a bitch.
- Pitofdoom, on 08/21/2008, -2/+1America's pussy leader's won't launch ***** !
  - PolishLogic, on 08/21/2008, -0/+3poorly trolled...
    
    Although, I'm dying to know.....America's pussy leader's what won't launch *****? Finger? Big toe?
- netant, on 08/21/2008, -1/+3Yes, what you need to make clear is that the US does not need to build more tactical nukes to "counter" Russian aggression. The US merely need to make clear that any use of a tactical nuke would result in either a limited or full ICBM exchange.
  
  Sure, it can end life on Earth as we know it. That's what makes it "MAD". The end result is the Ruskies pay a lot of money for weapons that won't do them jack squat tactically or strategically. A "mistake" could only happen if the Russians did not believe we would end the world "on principle". Americans even hinting this was the case would cause the tacnuke to be released, and not retaliating would merely make tactical nukes fair game in the soon to be ended future.
  - phatphat, on 08/23/2008, -1/+1No. The US needs to now become 'tactically' competetive. If you have no tactical response, the ICBM defense becomes beside the point. If Russia has even 500 of those 5,000 tactical nukes sitting in submarines off the US coast, they win the argument.
- cyberdork, on 08/21/2008, -1/+3The MAD doctrine assured peace over the past 60 years. Now the US wants to undermine this strategy by building it's missile defense shield. No wonder Russia is responding this way...
  - PolishLogic, on 08/21/2008, -1/+3The US isn't undermining a thing. They launch 80 nukes, and we shoot down 10 of them with the shield, we're still *****, and so are they.
    
    That's what's funny about Russia's response, actually. The MAD doctrine is still in effect with or without this shield. It's like two people pointing guns at the other person's head yet one is pissed because the other is wearing bullet-proof socks.
LibbyDiggy, on 08/21/2008, -0/+2I said the same thing 4 days ago and I have a graph.

http://digg.com/world_news/Why_the_US_should_alwas ...
Retrodigg123, on 08/21/2008, -1/+4I swear to god.

If USA and Russia dont WISE THE FK UP then we will see the nukes flying.
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Russia's Nuclear Threat Is More Than Words

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