The Nukes of October

The Nukes of October

www.wired.com

The aircraft were pointed toward Moscow, but the real goal was to change the war in Vietnam. During his campaign for the presidency the year before, Richard Nixon had vowed to end that conflict. But more than 4,500 Americans had died there in the first six months of 1969, including 84 soldiers at the debacle of Hamburger Hill. Meanwhile, the peace negotiations in Paris, which many people hoped would end the conflict, had broken down. The Vietnamese had declared that they would just sit there, conceding nothing, \"until the chairs rot.\" Frustrated, Nixon decided to try something new: threaten the Soviet Union with a massive nuclear strike and make its leaders think he was crazy enough to go through with it. His hope was that the Soviets would be so frightened of events spinning out of control that they would strong-arm Hanoi, telling the North Vietnamese to start making concessions at the negotiating table or risk losing Soviet military support.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This story may be old but since the documents have been released recently through a FOIA request the story is just getting out. Makes you think maybe all the hype about going to war with Iran is to scare them in to submission. If a government can convince it’s citizens that it might go to war, maybe they will make the enemy think, “They aren’t bluffing.”

To risk all out nuclear war doesn’t make any since to me, but as Kissinger Said, \"You need to make the other side think your crazy enough to use nuclear weapons for them to have any effectiveness.

It’s still a role of the dice and who could predict how the Russians react.

Toady the cold war seems to be getting warm with our missile shield and nuke equipped Russian Bear Bombers buzzing our carriers.


www.wired.com
(visit the link for the full news article)