What makes you think the Russians or Chinese are ignoring it. Putin said there isn't a pact between China and Russia?
Fine. He isn't ignoring it. He also isn't adding 5000 missiles and 50,000 warheads. From a practical standpoint, same thing.
And you don't REALLY believe this is about a system to shoot down 10 incoming, do you? And if it is a first step, do you expect to see the Pres announce that in the NY Times?
Does it make nuclear weapons obsolete
Sorry. Misread that. It makes ICBMs obsolete. And that is a contribution. Without a BMD, they are unstoppable. Cruise missiles actually can be stopped. Not easy either, but not impossible.
But in either case I've argued that BMD cannot be effective.
I asked this before: Why not?
Answering that is doesn't stop a suitcase or an SUV isn't an answer; it isn't intended to.
A major nuclear attack on N. Korea will drift effects, both electromagnetic and radiation, over Japan and China. You ignored the point before and you ignore it again here.
I'm not ignoring it. In another life which I can't admit to, I studied the effects of nuclear weapons, among other things. I know something about that; probably more than you because you would most likely not have access to the materials I did.
What I'm saying is that if such a thing occurred, no American gov't could stand that did not massively retaliate. If Japan or China get dusted, so be it. You are talking millions of American lives here. And guess what? We Americans value them more highly than other lives. Just like other peoples.
A pre-emptive attack is not addressing the attack that has occurred it is addressing the strategy of preventing the attack in the first place. Which is has a higher probability of success and is lower cost. In your examples of pre-emptive attacks, I see nothing that was pre-emptive about any of them. What? Hitler invaded Poland to pre-empt the Polish attack on Germany?
Well, that was his claim. (Actually, he claimed Poland invaded Germany. Picture that.)
Pre-emptive? Clearly not. I cite them as examples of attacks for which the attackers had limited objectives and wanted limited consequences BLEW UP IN THEIR FACES. And that is a major risk of pre-emptive strikes. |
