The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Whittle Has Some Must-See Viewing

Posted on | June 3, 2010 | 5 Comments

by Smitty

Bill Whittle’s Sam Cohen interview on Afterburner is important viewing. Look for the Going Nuclear I & II links under Afterburner.

Cohen is the inventor of the neutron bomb. The first segment is interesting, the second shocking for his stone-cold chilling analysis of where things are headed.

One defers to the wisdom of such genius as Cohen’s. Perhaps I’m a naive. Why I doubt that there will be any usage of nukes except in the case of (a) truly unhinged actors or (b) external forces threatening a regime with imminent destruction are:

  • The nuclear Rubicon is a one-way crossing. Unlike so many others actions across Diplomatic, Informational, Military, and Economic (DIME) facets of interaction, the control freaks who have them lose control of the dice once they are cast. The strutting, posturing, threatening, and brinksmanship all come to an end once over the brink.
  • Given the existing war crimes debate over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the world retribution against whoever lays down the next glass parking lot promises to be immense. Whoever goes there, assuming survival, is likely to wish they’d met their demise. And that’s irrespective of the weapon size.

Actual leaders who take their responsibilities seriously and live in the real world don’t enjoy the luxury of thinking out loud in a consequence-free blog post. The first bullet point above is why leaders from representative democracies don’t go around threatening each other; it’s a lose-lose proposition.

It’s the unhinged ones that cause the concern.

Category: PJTV, Politics, Uncategorized

Comments

5 Responses to “Whittle Has Some Must-See Viewing”

  1. Failure of the Opposition is Not Sufficient For Victory « Si Vis Pacem
    June 3rd, 2010 @ 8:07 am

    […] virtues of Liberty, exposing the moral fraud that is “redistibutive justice“, rejecting the cynicism of unilateral weakness, bringing the Chicago politbureau to face charges for CCX and near countless smaller political […]

  2. Michael Adams
    June 3rd, 2010 @ 1:41 pm

    Whittle is ALWAYS must-see. He is brilliant, and, as a speaker, he is on fire. I saw the interview last week, and it is quite excellent.

  3. Michael Adams
    June 3rd, 2010 @ 8:41 am

    Whittle is ALWAYS must-see. He is brilliant, and, as a speaker, he is on fire. I saw the interview last week, and it is quite excellent.

  4. Joe
    June 3rd, 2010 @ 9:24 am

    Interesting insights on Openheimer and Teller (I suspected as much, but it is good to hear it confirmed by an insider).

    As for neutron bombing the jungles of Vietnam? Sounds similar to MacArthur’s plan to make a nuclear waste river between the NoKo and Chinese borders.

    I know Kim Jong Il is a significant danger and we can ask, what if? But I am guessing going there would have caused far more harm than good in the long term.

  5. Joe
    June 3rd, 2010 @ 2:24 pm

    Interesting insights on Openheimer and Teller (I suspected as much, but it is good to hear it confirmed by an insider).

    As for neutron bombing the jungles of Vietnam? Sounds similar to MacArthur’s plan to make a nuclear waste river between the NoKo and Chinese borders.

    I know Kim Jong Il is a significant danger and we can ask, what if? But I am guessing going there would have caused far more harm than good in the long term.