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Slightly related: this arte documentary about nuclear weapons: https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/082249-000-A/the-new-cold-war/ https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/08224
by est31 7y ago
Slightly related: this arte documentary about nuclear weapons:
https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/082249-000-A/the-new-cold-war/ https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/082249-000-A/the-new-cold-war/
TLDW:
* Russia has comparatively poor capabilities in traditional weapons so they use nuclear weapons to compensate.
* USA is developing nuclear weapons for submarines that they can park at the coast of strategically important places without having to bother with criticism from the host country.
* With Trump in office, European states are wondering about whether to launch a European nuclear program for self defense.
* Baltic states are hard to defend, easy to invade. The NATO presence in the Baltics serves mainly the goal to appease the local population than to prevent any serious invasion attempt.
- jbattle 7y agoI thought the Baltic strategy was to have a force in place that the Russians would have to kill to get the baltics. That force couldn't stop the Russians but their defeat would cause a casus belli that gives NATO enough domestic political capital to go fully to war with Russia.
- est31 7y agoThat's probably a component as well.
- bitL 7y agoIt's known for ages that there is no defense against nuclear submarines equipped with MIRVs that could obliterate e.g. the whole West Coast in a single shot. That's why North Korea went from cute game of a little rocket man to something super serious as they finally learned how to build both missiles and proper submarines. Russian defense was always based on rockets anyway, they made the conscious choice long time ago as the most cost-efficient approach. So their air carriers can be weak, planes can be only half-stealth, ships can be outdated and falling apart, but rockets are always top-notch.