Kevin,
I'm a child of the Cold War. I grew up under this type of threat scenario. Yes, this is a lot more plausible than the schlock that the propagandists were feeding the public when I was a child. However, I've come to grips with these types of scenarios and I expect you have as well.
Regardless, we are living in interesting times. The next couple of decades could be pretty horrific, or the whole thing could self-correct.
Nuclear attack is always a concern, but like Renn I grew up during the cold war when the thought of the entire world being swept away by thousands of nukes was considered a very a plausible one.
These medieval characters we are up against are exremely dangerous, but there is a big danger, because when they are compared to us they are rank amateurs when it comes to dealing out destruction.
They've killed something like 6000 Americans since 9/11. In the past when we were as determined to defeat someone as they are, millions would have bought it in a similar period. That subconscious fact is, in my opinion why many people don't take them as much of a threat as they should.
The gloves haven't come off because of that low number of American casualties, combined with the relative lack of impact the conflict has had on the daily life of ordinary Americans. If they succeed in setting off a nuke, things will change dramatically.
After actually cogitating on this for a little bit today, I must say I like the piece as an intro to an action adventure post-apocalyptic novel.
The real world greater likelihood is a suitcase nuke, or a number of them detonated in or around our major cities. Too much of that and it could take down much or all of our power grid which would have dire consequences. Most people do not realize just how dependent we are on "the grid". Take a day and REALLY look at a map. Look at the distances in many of the other countries in the world and then look at the distances here in the US. Then figure out just how far that grapefruit or orange you ate for breakfast travelled. SUbstitute whatever foodstuff is not grown i nyour region, and then think about the consequences of the loss of power to pump fuel for those trucks...
Not to scare anyone, just food for thought so people can prepare to the best of their ability for a situation that may never happen. Though the likelihood does seem to be increasing.
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Title: It just doesn’t matter…
Excerpt: It really doesn’t matter in terms of world peace if America through her elected officials decides that she no longer wants war. If our enemies want war, there will be war. The only question is where the shots will be fired and the battles foug...
Blog name: Mostly Cajun, All American and Opinionated
Note:
All avatars and any images or other media embedded in comments were hosted on the JS-Kit website and have been lost;
references to haloscan comments have been partially automatically remapped, but accuracy is not guaranteed and corrections are solicited.
If you notice any problems with this page or wish to have your home page link updated, please contact John Hardin <jhardin@impsec.org>
JS-Kit/Echo comments for article at http://smallestminority.blogspot.com/2006/11/in-keeping-with-my-recent-gloom-n-doom.html (4 comments)
Tentative mapping of comments to original article, corrections solicited.
Kevin,
I'm a child of the Cold War. I grew up under this type of threat scenario. Yes, this is a lot more plausible than the schlock that the propagandists were feeding the public when I was a child. However, I've come to grips with these types of scenarios and I expect you have as well.
Regardless, we are living in interesting times. The next couple of decades could be pretty horrific, or the whole thing could self-correct.
Nuclear attack is always a concern, but like Renn I grew up during the cold war when the thought of the entire world being swept away by thousands of nukes was considered a very a plausible one.
These medieval characters we are up against are exremely dangerous, but there is a big danger, because when they are compared to us they are rank amateurs when it comes to dealing out destruction.
They've killed something like 6000 Americans since 9/11. In the past when we were as determined to defeat someone as they are, millions would have bought it in a similar period. That subconscious fact is, in my opinion why many people don't take them as much of a threat as they should.
The gloves haven't come off because of that low number of American casualties, combined with the relative lack of impact the conflict has had on the daily life of ordinary Americans. If they succeed in setting off a nuke, things will change dramatically.
After actually cogitating on this for a little bit today, I must say I like the piece as an intro to an action adventure post-apocalyptic novel.
The real world greater likelihood is a suitcase nuke, or a number of them detonated in or around our major cities. Too much of that and it could take down much or all of our power grid which would have dire consequences. Most people do not realize just how dependent we are on "the grid". Take a day and REALLY look at a map. Look at the distances in many of the other countries in the world and then look at the distances here in the US. Then figure out just how far that grapefruit or orange you ate for breakfast travelled. SUbstitute whatever foodstuff is not grown i nyour region, and then think about the consequences of the loss of power to pump fuel for those trucks...
Not to scare anyone, just food for thought so people can prepare to the best of their ability for a situation that may never happen. Though the likelihood does seem to be increasing.
Trackback message
Title: It just doesn’t matter…
Excerpt: It really doesn’t matter in terms of world peace if America through her elected officials decides that she no longer wants war. If our enemies want war, there will be war. The only question is where the shots will be fired and the battles foug...
Blog name: Mostly Cajun, All American and Opinionated
Note: All avatars and any images or other media embedded in comments were hosted on the JS-Kit website and have been lost; references to haloscan comments have been partially automatically remapped, but accuracy is not guaranteed and corrections are solicited.
If you notice any problems with this page or wish to have your home page link updated, please contact John Hardin <jhardin@impsec.org>