09-06-2004, 06:51 AM
"You may get what you seek: another nuclear arms race."
Perhaps I missed the part where you need more nuclear weapons once you have enough, making generous allowance for duds and whatnot, to blow the world to rubble several times over.
What, exactly or generally, do you need to race for? You've already got anything that could ever be useful, even if your goal is to saturate your opponent with gigatons of explosive power. Increasing the crater depth isn't a very useful goal. Is there some risk of losing your global apocalypse capability? Is the nuclear stockpile somehow in danger by not funding whatever nutty scheme the NeoCons are cooking up this week? Did MAD cease to exist as a concept at the same time it ceased to be a reality? Any nuclear power who arose to challenge the US would face exactly the same dagger-at-each-other's-throats scenario that existed with the Soviets, yes? And, even if they were crazy enough to trade, is there some level of defense spending that protects you from nuclear annhilation?
Now, what *would* start another race (albeit not a nuclear arms race) is some defense against nuclear weaponry. But that seems unlikely for the time being. Delivery vehicles might change, but there isn't much that's going to stop several megatons of force that I can think of.
Jester
Perhaps I missed the part where you need more nuclear weapons once you have enough, making generous allowance for duds and whatnot, to blow the world to rubble several times over.
What, exactly or generally, do you need to race for? You've already got anything that could ever be useful, even if your goal is to saturate your opponent with gigatons of explosive power. Increasing the crater depth isn't a very useful goal. Is there some risk of losing your global apocalypse capability? Is the nuclear stockpile somehow in danger by not funding whatever nutty scheme the NeoCons are cooking up this week? Did MAD cease to exist as a concept at the same time it ceased to be a reality? Any nuclear power who arose to challenge the US would face exactly the same dagger-at-each-other's-throats scenario that existed with the Soviets, yes? And, even if they were crazy enough to trade, is there some level of defense spending that protects you from nuclear annhilation?
Now, what *would* start another race (albeit not a nuclear arms race) is some defense against nuclear weaponry. But that seems unlikely for the time being. Delivery vehicles might change, but there isn't much that's going to stop several megatons of force that I can think of.
Jester