Re:Reasons to Fear Another ‘Great War’
by goatlover on Monday November 12, 2018 @09:07PM
(#18437842)
And it's not going to get very far before the nuclear option gets trotted out. What good is an invasion force if the other side feels threatened enough to start nuclear retaliation?
Re:Reasons to Fear Another ‘Great War’
by stevenwoo on Monday November 12, 2018 @10:45PM
(#18438385)
I can remember folks in the Reagan adminstration regularly touted the possibility of winning a nuclear war and used that sort of rhetoric in elections. The other part of that is the fundamentalist Christians in the USA who believe in the literal interpretation of Revelations so for them there is greater glory in armageddon that begins with a conflict in Israel. And in power now, John Bolton is one of those guys who thinks we can win a nuclear war and need simply need to outbuild the other guys.
Re:Reasons to Fear Another ‘Great War’
by amanaplanacanal on Tuesday November 13, 2018 @01:30PM
(#18443390)
I will say it is weird when it seems to make sense to be more scared of the people on your own side than the people on the enemy's side. Perhaps they have folks just as scary, though.
Re:Reasons to Fear Another ‘Great War’
by stevenwoo on Wednesday November 14, 2018 @01:56PM
(#18452682)
We almost went to war in 1983 - the political sloganeering by Reagan adminstration combined with the paranoia on the Soviet side (their double agents inside the West reported Able Archer 83 as an exercise but the Soviets interpreted the intel) made a military exercise for NATO appear to be the start of a first strike preparation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83
Well, this is one of the reasons a Great War is unlikely - how are you going to do this? Even if you build things up slowly, you still have to store them somewhere. You have to train people. There is no way to create a military force capable of fighting a Great War in today's age without it being obvious.
Which isn't to say that build up can't happen - it's just not going to be a surprise to anyone.