Latvia wants permanent U.S. troops, foreign minister tells Blinken

Re:Latvia wants permanent U.S. troops, foreign minister tell... by nradov on Monday March 07, 2022 @04:48PM (#30593745)

This is just so naive and unrealistic that I don't understand how anyone could believe it. You can't count on adversaries acting with dignity when they have core interests at stake. In the future more countries will acquire nuclear weapons, or ally with nuclear powers, specifically because of what happened to Ukraine.

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Re:Latvia wants permanent U.S. troops, foreign minister tell... by js8 on Tuesday March 08, 2022 @01:35AM (#30597077)

I think you can make a better counter-argument than "it's unrealistic, people are stupid and they won't do it". The idea that more nukes are making the world safer is like the idea that everybody having a gun is making USA safer.

There has been some progress on this in recent years, see https://www.icanw.org/. And in fact the nuclear arsenals of USA and Russia have been (albeit too slowly) reducing over the past 30 years. But more governments (NATO expansion) relying on nukes for their security (which is a false sense) is a pretty big setback.

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Re:Latvia wants permanent U.S. troops, foreign minister tell... by nradov on Tuesday March 08, 2022 @02:05AM (#30597213)

It's not a matter of stupidity at all, it's purely self interest. Giving up nukes is irrational when they're such an effective tool.

The USA and Russia reduced their arsenals primarily as a cost savings measure. Keeping the weapons systems operating is shockingly expensive. Modern delivery systems are more accurate so we can now ensure MAD with fewer warheads.

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Re:Latvia wants permanent U.S. troops, foreign minister tell... by js8 on Wednesday March 09, 2022 @05:09AM (#30612830)

I think I already addressed "rational self-interest" (and how it can lead to stupidity) elsewhere in the thread. It's not an end-all be-all of human nature.

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