The Math Is Bad for MAD

realcleardefense.com

4 pointsspekcular3 comments

Nuclear submarine boats would survive almost all first strikes.

If there is a new arms race, unfortunately it will spread to low orbit.

The MIRVs are probably to try to overwhelm likely missile defenses.

A nuclear strike of that magnitude would be suicide for the attacking nation however with fallout, climate change, and economic disruption. But considering both Russia and now China are being run by full-on autocrats... that's not good.

> If America proceeds with a very costly modernization of U.S. nuclear forces (many hundreds of billions of dollars) [emphasis added]

You say billion like it's big. It isn't. The US is a 25 trillion dollar economy, and growing. A trillion dollars over four or five years isn't much.

This is the part where I post that Eisenhower quote about how every bomb and plane is a hundred schools and hospitals that go unbuilt. In a time of huge inequality and degrading infrastructure, I take offense to the idea that hundreds of billions of dollar is a small amount when it could significantly improve the lives of an uncountable number of people.

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