It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.

Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.

Thank you.

 

Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.

 

In the event of a war between nuclear powers, would there be a nuclear exchange?

page: 3
1
<< 1  2   >>

log in

join
share:

posted on Mar, 19 2008 @ 07:17 PM
link   
I haven't read all the replies, but I would like to give my own opinion.
I would say yes. If one side in a conflict involving nuclear powers were to launch nuclear weapons at the other, the other side would also launch.
My reasoning is that it is policy. At every level the deterrent is upheld by the absolute intention to retaliate against a nuclear strike with a nuclear strike.
Imagine a conflict where each side is tempted to use nuclear weapons to end the conflict. Now imagine if one side were to discover that the other side had a secret policy not to launch a nuclear attack in retaliation to a nuclear attack (to help ensure the cotinuation of the species perhaps). Deterrent gone... well, that one anyway.

That's my reasoning anyway.



posted on Mar, 20 2008 @ 01:17 AM
link   
reply to post by ShatteredSkies
 


Yes, I know that Scattered. It was a theoretical scenario for whaaa.



posted on Mar, 20 2008 @ 09:58 AM
link   
reply to post by WestPoint23
 


I agree with your points but I don't see the real will to make a full out stand there for Taiwan's benefit. Sooner or later, by one means or another, Taiwan will eventually be assimilated back into mainland China. It's just a matter of when and how. Hopefully there will be a satisfactory agreement between the two.

If we were so intent on protecting Taiwan, we would have let nuclear techonolgy slip to them to build their own nuclear weapons, decades ago. That would be Taiwan's only real detterent.

The US will not risk a full scale war with China over Taiwan. Luckily, neither will China risk a full scale war with the US over Taiwan. Pretty much a stalemate.



posted on Mar, 20 2008 @ 10:15 AM
link   

Originally posted by pavil
I agree with your points but I don't see the real will to make a full out stand there for Taiwan's benefit.


I don't think it's a "full out stand" for Taiwan, it's a symbolic gesture with real capabilities and implications. If the US wanted to make a "full out stand" we would have set up bases in Taiwan and or allowed it to produce and procure more advanced systems as well as give it monetary aid for military procurement.


Originally posted by pavil
Sooner or later, by one means or another, Taiwan will eventually be assimilated back into mainland China. It's just a matter of when and how. Hopefully there will be a satisfactory agreement between the two.


I doubt it. With each generation the population of Taiwan becomes even more independent. The younger Taiwanese think of themselves as Taiwanese where as the old timers still think of themselves as Chinese and want closer relations with the mainland. The entire cultural, historical and political view in Taiwan is moving away from China and becoming more "Westernized". Even the education systems in schools highlight this shift.

Taiwan wills never accept China's view of it nor the implications a reunification will have. Anything which negatively changes the status quo and does not advanced the notion of an independent Taiwan will not be accepted. The only way China will be able to claim Taiwan again is through military force, they know it and so do we. Fortunately for us due to the US Military China is not certain what the result of such a campaign will be, hence inaction, for the time being.


Originally posted by pavil
That would be Taiwan's only real detterent.


I agree, similar to Israel but t would be a risky move and… I hate to speculate here but Taiwan is more of a hedge against China for political and military expansion. It offers us an excuse to keep such a presence in the region with regards to forward deployed base. This in return reaffirms our control of the entire Pacific which we are not willing to share and or concede to China, not even the PACRIM.


Originally posted by pavil
Pretty much a stalemate.


Hence, containment.



posted on Mar, 29 2008 @ 03:29 AM
link   

Originally posted by vor78
reply to post by ShatteredSkies
 
If we're talking about a US/Russia conflict, I don't think either really has any intention of occupying the other.

I believe the cold war was really intended to be used in the Orwellian fashion to control us. When the Soviets ceased to be a credible threat; 9/11 was created.



posted on Mar, 29 2008 @ 11:47 PM
link   
reply to post by Nookster
 


Cold War was to create power. Why did the US continue the Cold War when they knew the Russian military was nothing but an empty shell?



new topics

top topics
 
1
<< 1  2   >>

log in

join