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The biggest defect of MAD was that the Soviets correctly thought it was profoundly immoral and never accepted it, and, well, once Robert Strange McNamara, he of
by hga 11y ago
The biggest defect of MAD was that the Soviets correctly thought it was profoundly immoral and never accepted it, and, well, once Robert Strange McNamara, he of the oh so wise initial prosecution of the Vietnam War, pushed it through, the Soviet leaders didn't have much trouble painting us as immoral because we were.
- varjag 11y agoThey did accept it and played along, even if doing the usual lip service on militarist capitalist imperialists.
- GunboatDiplomat 11y agoMAD is not immoral. There's nothing immoral about preventing nuclear war. I also find it hard to believe that the Soviets, of all people would dare claim the moral high ground.
- hga 11y agoThe Soviets attack our military establishment, and our moral response is to burn Soviet children to death in their beds? Yeah, right. And the Soviets most certainly took advantage of this moral error, for as you note, they're hard pressed to do so with a straight face otherwise.
- GunboatDiplomat 11y agoYes. That is how you prevent nuclear war. By being prepared to do terrible things that you hope to never do. Only by being ready to commit atrocities can you hope to not have atrocities committed at all. There is no moral error here, only moral reality. Also, it's not like our military establishment is separate from our civilian population centers. The SF bay area, New York, San Diego, among others, would be devastated in a counter-force first strike, no matter how precise.