if the doctrine of mutually assured destruction behind nuclear weapons
were taken seriously would we even bother to have a standing army? what
do you need a standing army for if you have a nuclear weapon stockpile?
besides imperialism.
I’m going to be straight up and tell you this is the worst thing I’ve heard today.
Like, you couldn’t think of any strategic need for any discriminate use of force? Non-state threats? Oppressive governments against their own civilian population? Irregular or low intensity warfare?
I can think of plenty of bad reasons to keep around a standing army as large as the United States’s, and I’d like to clarify that I’m speaking specifically of the United States here. What do you mean by “oppressive governments against their own civilian population”? Like, Saddam Hussein? Or someone acting against our population? In the latter case I would figure that a nuclear weapon would be enough deterrence, assuming MAD is true, which is what I’m trying to test the conclusions of here.
I mean, yeah a nuke could have stopped Hussein from oppressing people… but they would also he killed.
So for example, disinformation, psychological operations and espionage is a threat to the United States where nuking a country isn’t the solution. See what I mean?
What I’m saying is that America doesn’t need a standing army from a defense perspective though, not that we should be using nukes offensively (which is insane), but purely as a deterrent from external aggression. If defense is what we’re concerned about (and I know we’re both cynical enough to know better, but forget about that for a moment), what’s the point of a standing army when no one will attack you on account of your nuclear weapons?
Other institutions can take care of those specific instances (disinfo, psyops, etc.) I see the point of an army in exceptional circumstances, but I don’t see how this is defensible under peace conditions.
Again, my dude, asymmetrical warfare negates nuclear deterrence. There are organizations and entities that operate with malicious intent to harm or influence the US population.
I’m sorry did you UBL give a fuck about our nuclear stockpile when he planned 9-11?
