I’ve been a big fan of “Mutually Assured Destruction” as a way to prevent nuclear war. It is a strategy developed by game theorists, and while its acronym is MAD, it has worked for the last 70 plus years. It is based on the idea that if a nation uses nuclear weapons against an opponent that can retaliate with nuclear weapons, it will not attack. An attack would be suicidal.
Unfortunately, things can go wrong. What happens if a nation uses nuclear weapons on an enemy that lacks a retaliatory capability. (Think Russia vs. Ukraine.) What happens if a country is governed by a madman who doesn’t care about suicide. Perhaps he is someone who believes in the rapture or someone who thinks it is God’s will. Or maybe it is a leader who is batshit crazy. (Think North Korea.) Suppose we have a President who thinks a nuclear “exchange” is winnable, and doesn’t understand nuclear winter and fallout and literally billions of casualties. Accidents can happen; we have come close with misread signals in the past.
I just finished Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen. Ms. Jacobsen has done her research, interviewed Defense Department experts, and presents a minute-by-minute account of how a nuclear holocaust could start. It is not a book to read before bedtime, but I think it should be required reading for every leader in every one of the countries that possess nuclear weapons.
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