re: #419 lawhawk

I’d disagree with the italicized section, if only because Iran and North Korea aren’t acting as typical rational actors, and with their access and development of nuclear weapons (and in Iran’s case, striving to achieve same), their inflamed rhetoric and leadership may actually utilize such weapons against the US or our interests in the affected regions or within range of their missiles.

In Russia we had a rational actor that held to MAD. The same can’t necessarily be said of the Iranians, who throw in a religious component that necessitates such a calamity to bring about end-time prophesies (the hidden 12th Mahdi). North Korea may be utilizing nukes as a bargaining chip to extract concessions (nuclear blackmail), but their intentions to engage in proliferation means that the North Koreans may send weapons to those who have no restraint in their use.

Moreover, the Islamic terror groups have directly attacked the US on a number of occasions, while the Russians (Soviets) utilized proxies to hit at US forces. So, in that respect, the threat feels much more imminent even though the comparative military capabilities of the Islamic terror groups like AQ are absolutely dwarfed by the Russian (Soviet) military. That the likes of AQ is more than willing to go after purely civilian targets than just military targets adds to the fear factor, even though during the Cold War - both the US and USSR targeted each others cities multiple times over as part of the MAD doctrine.

North Korea is a creation of the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union did indeed throw equally heated rhetoric towards the USA throughout the Cold War. Soviet and Chinese Communism was front and center and causing headaches all across the world in Vietnam, Koreas, Timor, South and Central America, Cuba, Hungary, East Germany, and so on. There were even what once could call “cells” of Communist within our soil. The armies numbered millions and the technology was advanced including all of the ICBMs, Migs, tanks, chemical and biological warfare, etc.

Millions of people died during that time including the civilian deaths in Vietnam and Cambodia. It wasn’t a matter of when they would have attacked — they were already attacking and financing what would consider rogue states. Sure, MAD prevented a catastrophe but we did in fact come close to a nuclear exchange on at least two occasions. Spy aircraft were frequently shot down by the Russian during this time and 100s of American servicemen died in this endeavor alone.

There is nothing that can convince me that what happened during the Cold War comes even close to the threat of Al Qaeda and their 100,000 or so rag tag membership. They’re capable of attaining high technology weapons such as a suit case nuke but that’s still a “known unknown” an remains to come to fruition. We are effectively fighting a 19th Century enemy. Again, it’s a real threat and a dangerous one. But it’s not even close to the threats we’ve faced in our recent past.