Even by the bellicose standards of the Bush Administration, John Bolton, Donald Trump’s selection to become the new National Security Advisor, was considered one hell of a scary guy. Even now, he is advocating for a preemptive nuclear strike against North Korea and he wants war against Iran. He may just convince the president to blow up the entire planet, but in the meantime he’s going to be good for at least one sector of the American economy.
John Bolton May Be Nuts But He’ll Be Good For One Important Sector of the U.S. Economy
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Can’t wait to see Mr Bolton as Major Kong, mustache waving in the wind….
Henri
Major Kong, from that great documentary released as a dark satire.
Well, it’ll certainly help with overpopulation.
“Boom goes London,
Boom Paree.
More room for you
and more room for me.
They all hate us anyhow,
Let’s drop the big one now!”
– Tom Lehrer
For those who want to see what the nuke fetish of Mr Bolton and his ilk would mean in praxis, plug in a yield, e g, 350 kt for a US Minuteman III W 78 warhead, and check out the result of a detonation near one’s home. Forget that business of hiding under the desk…..
Henri
Churchill wrote that the European powers had MAD in ’24 (not by that name or that acronym, he just called it ‘suicide’), and it limited WWII in Europe. MAD limited the post-WWII conflicts between the US and the USSR after ’49. Fortunately, those days of repressed aggression are over: most US ‘experts’ agree that no nation still has MAD against the US, so the US can launch a first strike against any opponent, and the US military is so advanced, no adversary will be able to deploy a response that would do the slightest damage to the US. Hence, the US is free to strike any and every nation it considers a threat. Putin gave a speech that Russia still has MAD, and the entire US MSM said it was all Photoshop, Russia has nothing that could penetrate the US ABM shield and threaten the US. The fact that it is patently false that Russia does not have MAD is irrelevant, what matters is that most US ‘experts’ are sure that Russia does not have MAD.
«The fact that it is patently false that Russia does not have MAD is irrelevant, what matters is that most US ‘experts’ are sure that Russia does not have MAD.»
Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:
That alone should encourage the crew.
Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice:
What I tell you three times is true.
….
Henri
The truth has no monetary value in comparison to the well-crafted lies that that make money for both liars and the propagators of their lies.
Absent the myths propagated in support of a political theology, what would be left to keep truth seekers feeling the precarity necessary to accept their submission before the lies of these deceptive mythogists?
Contrary to popular belief, the ability to launch nuclear weapons does not lie with the executive, but only the ability to command the launch of these weapons. There are hundreds of people who could launch the ultimate worldwide suicide bombing.
It would be enough that these people believe that they are fulfilling some great necessity to start the suicidal social chain reaction (or that it has already started) that then starts the physical nuclear chain reaction of fission, and then fusion.
No one should feel safe while waiting for the new god of the new religion that might save the world from its delusions and insanity.
Recommended reading: “The day they got Boston”
It’s a cute short story by Herbert Gold. It’s seems that a rubber band broke somewhere in Russia, and a punched card fell into a slot (this is 1961) and launched a nuke at Boston. Before it even hits the premier is on the phone apologizing but Boston is obliterated.
So we work out a deal where we get to nuke a Russian city, and we do. We negotiate exactly which city based on size and industry and kaboom!
All’s well in the world again, colleges start teaching courses on strategic city nuking and we continue on. EXCEPT that the city we chose was a film industry center for Russia, so they start asking for permission to nuke Hollywood….
@CH
You most likely saw this 1964 movie, Fail-Safe. But for those who haven’t, I recommend it.
An nuclear attack is launched against Moscow and the only way to prevent the social chain reaction into total nuclear war was for the president (played by Henry Fonda) to annihilate New York City by atomic bombing it to demonstrate the sincerity and truthfulness that the attack was accidental.
New York was sacrificed that the world may live.
Also, see “The Doomsday Machine : confessions of a nuclear war planner” recently, by Daniel Ellsberg.
“The Forbin Project” (1970 made-for-TV movie)
Long before Skynet, the Russian and American doomsday computers hook up & decide to take over.
Of course, the absolute top of the pyramid is “Dr. Strangelove” – it should need no intro, but I am given to understand that they (accidentally?) revealed some of the weaknesses in the real system & inspired changes.
@CH
If you want to read a scary computer AI novel see “The Fear Index” by Robert Harris.
After Watson beat the top Jeopardy players in 2011, this fiction now seems very possible. Natural human language has been beaten by a computer simulacrum. Too scary.
Paul Greengrass was to direct the film based on this book but it never happened. Maybe because its so close to (the Brave New) reality and Big Money doesn’t want to bring itself into discredit and cause a panic.
@glenn
Thanks, I hadn’t heard of that one so I just hit the Omniscient Wiki and put it on my list.
So I’ll trade – if you haven’t read by “The Adolescence Of P-1 ” by Thomas J. Ryan, trust me – you want to.
“P-1” is a newly-awakened omnipotent AI. He’s a sympathetic character and just maybe the bad guy. I’ll let you decide.
Also some dark humor, philosophy and touchy-feely stuff. All ’round good read.
Okay, I’ll quit before we booted to the SF4M. 😀