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A comment on The Heart of Deterrence (2012). Parent comment

Re:The Heart of Deterrence (2012) by venomsnake on Saturday April 23, 2016 @10:43AM (#11555710)
There is huge difference though. He has to kill one of the citizens of his own country. Better example would have been lets say a convicted war criminal. He still has to do the killing, but not a person that is one of his own.
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Re:The Heart of Deterrence (2012) by jdavis703 on Saturday April 23, 2016 @11:26AM (#11555931)
Launching a nuclear strike against another nuclear-armed country will cause your own citizens to die though.
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Re:The Heart of Deterrence (2012) by GunboatDiplomat on Saturday April 23, 2016 @11:46AM (#11556008)
Yeah, but no President has ever launched a pre-emptive nuclear attack (saving WWII). And the likelihood of any President doing so has decreased over time. The only time the button would be pressed is if enemy missiles are in the air.
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Re:The Heart of Deterrence (2012) by venomsnake on Saturday April 23, 2016 @12:24PM (#11556169)
It may not have to be nuclear armed adversary. And it will cause a high probability of your own citizens dying. Not certainty.
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Re:The Heart of Deterrence (2012) by vidarh on Saturday April 23, 2016 @12:53PM (#11556296)
It is exactly this line of thinking that makes it worthwhile creating extra barriers to make it harder to launch a strike to force the person responsible to be very sure.
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