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"But with nuclear war there are no winners, only differing degrees of losing." One huge problem is the historical fact of the number of American deaths from th
by VLM 12y ago
"But with nuclear war there are no winners, only differing degrees of losing."
One huge problem is the historical fact of the number of American deaths from the invasion of mainland Japan. That being zero. And given past behavior, frankly losing only two cities means Japan came out ahead in the game too.
Looking at the mess we've made of Afghanistan and Iraq and Vietnam and everywhere else, you can imagine a guy calculating and "either this makes them back down completely, or we lose maybe just two cities... either way it'll be better than letting them invade for a generation..."
- InclinedPlane 12y agoI doubt any remotely rational actor would look at things that way. Nuclear weapons are more potent than they were in WWII and more numerous. And also more deadly, due to increased population density in most urban areas. If the same nuclear bombs were dropped in the same locations today as in WWII nearly ten times as many people would die. Moreover, the economic loss would be extreme, which serves as a further deterrent.