Quote:
Originally Posted by Zulu29
Well realistically, once Germany fell and the allies and Soviets divvied up their scientists the game was already over. The USSR had the means to make and develop their own bomb shortly after the US and the US was in no position to try and take on the Russians. Russia gave the bomb to China and everything trickled down from there. I really don't see how the US could have done anything to stop the Russians.
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Well, ruthlessly obliterating them would have been one option. Don't say there wasn't at least one thing you could do.
Truthfully, 1) the American public was tired of war and no one could see extent of the future antagonism between capitalism and communism and 2) America didn't have enough nuclear bombs to be thorough enough - a threat is no threat unless you can carry it through.
I've actually argued before that nuclear weapons rendered the world a safer place, that the big powers, for the first time in history, no longer dared going to war directly, instead relying on proxy wars like Vietnam and Latin America.
The world today, in fact, has never been a safer place, with the fewest conflicts in history on a relative basis. A lot of that because the major players don't dare war with each other.
Through the 70's and 80's, I never worried about nuclear war. There's no upside to it for either party.
It really is crazy little unpredictable a-hole countries like Iran or NK that you should worry about. Is it really a good idea to let them arm themselves or should you go a lot tough on them? Real tough.
Cowperson