“Screw increments.” Wow.
So do you believe that if Putin sends a tactical nuke into unpopulated Ukraine, the appropriate response would be us (whether you define, “us,” as NATO or the United States of America) instantly sending the entire strategic nuclear arsenal into Russia?
If so, how do you justify the 100% certainty that, after those missiles were launched, but before they hit, the Russians would respond similarly toward
- NYC
- Washington DC
- Jacksonville, FL (the nuclear sub base)
- Wherever we have nuclear missiles domiciled
- London
- Paris
- Berlin
- Scapa Flow (primary British Naval base)
- Frankfurt and Stuttgart (primary German steel-making areas, and major USAF base)
- All military academies of every NATO country — wipes out the officer corps for a minimum of 4 years, realistically much longer.
- Every single nuclear power generation plant
- Every single oil refinery
- Every single place where “the cloud” memory resides
- Every single place where records of your money reside
- The major hubs of the power grid, whether nuclear-fired or not
Maybe you enjoy the prospect of heating meals (assuming you can find groceries — for which you will pay with goodness only knows what barter system) over fires fueled by human waste — maybe your own. I don’t particularly relish those prospects, but that’s just me.
If that’s too much of a risk (and I think absent a more direct threat to the US, it is), what would be an appropriate scale down from “screw increments”?
So no, I’m not joking. I am, however, still interested in hearing a better alternative.
I’ll grant you this: Binary thinking is easy.
Last edited:
