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Obviously, using atomic weapons to dig a hole for an infrastructure project is profoundly stupid. The irony that the author doesn't touch on is that the incredi
by cheeseomlit 2y ago
Obviously, using atomic weapons to dig a hole for an infrastructure project is profoundly stupid. The irony that the author doesn't touch on is that the incredible violence of nuclear weapons, not these 'peaceful' boondoggle projects, is what makes them such an effective force for peace
- Qem 2y ago> Obviously, using atomic weapons to dig a hole for an infrastructure project is profoundly stupid. It can be used to plug holes too. There's an old video that made the rounds back when BP caused the Deepwater Horizon disaster, showing how the Soviet Union used nukes to successfully control a years-long gas well blowout in the Pamuk field. IIRC there was serious consideration of using a similar technique to plug the botched Macondo well as a last resort, if conventional measures failed.
- Neonlicht 2y agoThis was in the 1950s when a nuclear war was still considered winnable. This all changed as hydrogen bombs were combined with submarine launched ICBMs. That's when the MAD concept influenced political leaders on both sides.
- XorNot 2y agoIt's somewhat notable though that technically the "nuclear" part is almost less important then the delivery systems though. Consider South Korea and the North Korean conventional artillery aimed at Seoul.