a race of mizzles

congrats

The cartoonist who thought up "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day" got a visit from the FBI who warned her of threats against her life, and on their advice she disappeared and got a new identity

one of our Supreme Court Justices went on the Today show and said that since Muslims riot if you burn a Koran it isn't protected speech, cause yelling Fire in a crowded theater isnt protected either
but burning our flag is ok
he had to backtrack a day later

so we like to see SOMEBODY saying that Muslim overreactions are crazy

....has anybody seen Deci and Geert Wilders in the same room??

MAD was not a goal, and nobody ever sets out to be caught in stalemate.  MAD is not a balance of power.  MAD is not peace.

MAD is the result of two competing offensive systems developed to the point that the political class does not feel an advantage even if they ordered a first-strike. 

In other words, the USA, having developed the means to assault the Soviet Union by land, air and sea, was confronted by Soviet development of its own assault capability.  In certain arms, like submarines, the United States was predominant.   The USSR because of its political system had a better land arsenal.  Neither the USA nor the USSR could report a satisfactory solution to the other's offensive power.  Defensive systems were always rudimentary.

The ballistic missle submarines, the 24-hour aerially-refueled bombers, the rail-mounted ICBMS were NOT build with the idea "gee if we have this crap they cannot dare attack us".  they were built to be used.  Only after it became obvious that using them was going to be a coin toss, did the pinstripe pants start talking about MAD.

And what this led to was the development of global warfare, by 1st rank powers against 2nd rank powers and by 2nd rank powers against 2nd rank powers and by 3rd rank powers against 2nd rank powers and by 3rd rank powers against 3rd rank powers, without involving 1st rank powers against 1st rank powers. Global, conventional warfare of the sort that in 1914 and 1939 led to total world wars, was instead permitted to burn as low-key conflict.

If a 1st rank power says "ok now we have nuke subs, but we wont use them, because they are there to deter not assault" then other 1st rank powers can proceed to wage war on 2nd rank powers and 3rd rank powers, even those aligned with that other 1st rank power, as happened in the 1970s and 1980s.  A strike against the other 1st rank power might be weighed, as the target may lack the balls to use its "deterrent" fleet even after being attacked.  If you will not employ the offensive weapon no matter what, or rather, if you are PERCEIVED as being unwilling to employ the ultimate weapon, it has no deterrent value.  It must be credible as an offensive force -- Strategic Air Command could have been over russia 2 hours after the Word was given, our Ohio boats could have launched in 30 mins.   if it is supposed to ward off polar bears just by sitting there it will not impress anybody, like Clinton's F-18s buzzing the Serbs in Kosovo.

and I don't see how arguing "correlation doesn't equate to causation" promotes a theory as more "rational" than the historical record

If the UK is at all interested in fighting Russia, I mean in any circumstance including retaliating for a Russian first strike it should not care about "destabilizing deterrence" by maintaining offensive weapons

if it has no interest in fighting Russia whatsoever, there is no deterrence no matter what it builds

quite possibly he does not understand the complex situation he adamantly describes

or he does understand global warming and that shows how silly it is

the way Tupac addressed Biggie in "Hit Em Up"?

Is there a time portal?

wb einstein

well sure

any Chinese general who'd want to waste nukes on the UK would be denounced for corruption

well little miss "im too tired to click the links" you didnt even POST LINKS, I had to type the urls out! Boy am i exhausted! whiiiiine

depends on whether you trust Russia not to bomb you, deterrent or not

if they slag you 30 billion pounds won't make a dent in your recovery