Nuclear war

[manicdem]

I know were still way off from nuclear war but it got me thinking.
If Russia launched nukes at the US, should the US do the same?

A Russian nuclear attack would ravage the world environment, but if the US retalliates it would double the damage.

[jcgoldie]

1. eesh

[Zane_G]

2. You're kidding right?

[abqtommy]

6. Hey, welcome to DU and I'm thinking exactly like you! nt

[SheltieLover]

10. Welcome to DU!

[MarineCombatEngineer]

13. Welcome Zane_G.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

3. So what?

We just sit there and take it?
What kind of nonsense is this?
Of course we should, and would retaliate.

[Dan]

4. If Russia sent Nukes to the US,

If the POTUS and Military refused to act - then there would be no US.,
That’s why they call it MAD.
There are no good answers… that is why everyone is trying to keep this to a conventional war in whatever form.

[mvd]

5. If they go nuclear, we have to

And that’s coming from someone who is very anti-war.

[tinymontgomery]

7. A song from the Cold War

[thucythucy]

8. I think--I hope anyway--that our intelligence is good enough

to give us some warning.

Satellites can detect the heat signature of missiles being warmed for takeoff, or so I've been told.

This would enable us to a) warn the Russians we know what's coming and they'd better stand down or else or b) take out their sites pre-emptively.

Unfortunately, this doesn't work for submarine-based launches. On the other hand, I think our navy has a pretty good grip on where Russian ballistic subs are at any given time.

That's my hope anyway.

Another hope, hopefully not forlorn, is that the Russian military would dispose of Putin rather than obey such an order.

Just saying.

[harumph]

9. Yes, the US will use it's entire Triad to demolish Russia if they fire first.

There should be no question or doubts about this.
That's the entire concept of deterrence. And guess what, some of those
incoming Russian missiles will be intercepted - while probably
none of the US ones will. Have a nice day!

[Wingus Dingus]

11. That's how it works. That's what keeps the peace.

First strike is basically national suicide.

[48656c6c6f20]

12. Grasshoppers.

If grasshoppers had machine guns, birds wouldn't fuck with em.

[Metaphorical]

14. Um well

Don'cha know that America is protected by the Jewish Space Lasers. That's what QAnon says, anyway.

My bigger worry is that Putin uses the nukes on Kyiv.

[Beastly Boy]

15. How do you figure it ould double the damage?

If Russia strikes, do you really think they will never strike again unless they are prevented from striking again? If Russia is not stopped, it could easily triple the damage, with Russia in full control of where, when and how the damage gets done.

[revmclaren]

16. It's called M.A.D.

Mutual Assured Destruction.

If Russia launched a nuclear first strike on the United States or any NATO ally, we would immediately retaliate in kind.

Just our submarine launched missiles could lay waste to Russia twice over. Not that there would be anything left to take out after the fire storms, fallout, and decades long nuclear winter.

But simple answer....yes.

[Crunchy Frog]

17. Yes. nt

[Groundhawg]

18. absolutely not

[ymetca]

19. Duck and cover

and kiss your ass goodbye, was the phrase of my youth, way back when, in the dead-end Sixties.

Think of your precious bodily fluids!

[MarineCombatEngineer]

20. Yep.

duck, place head firmly between legs, kiss ass goodbye.

[manicdem]

21. Rest of the world

I get mutual destruction, but what about the rest of the world? If Russia wipes out the US, but US doesn't retaliate, that means less nuclear fallout for other countries out there and greater possibility humans will survive.

[Straw Man]

22. What "rest"?

Such a nuclear exchange would involve the entire developed world, one way or another. An attack on the US, whether we retaliated or not, would invoke Article 5, and NATO would respond. Then, as Sherlock Holmes would say, "The game's afoot!"

[denbot]

23. Wow..

Yeah just let’em nuke us.. wow.. good luck with that LoL.

[LiberatedUSA]

24. Uh...yes.

If we are going to be obliterated, they will be too. It isn’t mutually assured destruction if you neglect to launch your own nukes in return.