4 ms·
It’s possible that MAD is wearing off as more conventional war emerges because no one believes the other side will dare use them… so it’s almost as if they are
by taf2 4y ago
It’s possible that MAD is wearing off as more conventional war emerges because no one believes the other side will dare use them… so it’s almost as if they are not there or a threat.
- asah 4y agoDunno, sure seems like Russia would've been attacked by now if it weren't for MAD...
- photochemsyn 4y agoI suppose that's true, and humans have regrettably short memories it seems. However, Ukraine has 15 nuclear power plants IIRC, and WWII-era 'total war' strategies would have included their immediate destruction to cripple Ukraine's power grid. This was the strategy the USA and allies followed in the Gulf War against non-nuclear Iraq: > "More than 90 percent of Iraq’s electrical capacity was bombed out of service in the first hours... This comprised the country’s 11 major electrical power stations and 119 substations. Existing generating capacity of 9,000 MW in December 1990 was reduced to only 340 MW by March 1991." https://aldeilis.net/english/physical-destruction-iraqs-infrastructure-gulf-war/ https://aldeilis.net/english/physical-destruction-iraqs-infr... Bombing functioning nuclear power plants would create a radioactive disaster and Russia wasn't willing to do that. By that metric, MAD is still in effect to some extent. It's also keeping Russia from attacking NATO bases, and NATO from attacking Russian bases, at least for now.
- anigbrowl 4y agoMAD is also not as simple as generally described in the popular press. Power Transition theory is a school of thought that has some interesting ideas about the emergence of conflict and fits into a social physics type analysis.