With the report of this weekend's Hawaii missile alert...

rmattox

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I found myself wondering if there is a scenario in which our leaders would NOT retaliate by firing nukes at countries that fired at us first.

Is it possible a pacifist leader would decide "better if it's just us and not the whole world"?
 

CastleRubric

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if a nation carries out a preemptive nuclear strike on us at this point --

We would have a good chance of stopping it if it's not MIRV tech and something a bit less sophisticated (thinking N Korea)

If we caught them red handed launching one and stopped it -- we would carry out (IMO) a-symetircal warfare AND likely use tactical nukes on multiple military sites in their country (think B52's with nuclear tipped ALCM's under each wing - taking off from Guam or BIOT and releasing the weapons hundreds of miles from NK)

If we were hit by a major nation like China or Russia - we'd be in WW3 unless they overwhelmed us with combined first strike capability / cyber warfare and hypersonic weapons

We're making nukes smaller and more tactical than ever
and we're doing that because it's cheaper --- AND we believe we can USE THEM

SO .... you're going to live in a world where nuclear weapons are detonated in the coming 5-10 years IMO


FWIW we USED to have an open policy that we'd ALWAYS respond in kind in the event of a preemptive nuclear strike

but also -- for biological warfare --- I am 99% sure that we still maintain bio-warfare options AND are opening up new research there

Chemical weapons are on the way out of course

Unless you're taking about the types of chemicals that come from Poppy flowers and are used against populations....
 
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Pizza Slice

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IMO I think we should focus on cyber warfare a whole lot more. What is everything becoming nowadays? Technology, internet, cyberspace. Do you honestly have any idea how bad we could screw a country? We could mess with their trade, their banking, their government, their markets. We could practically turn them off like a light switch. Not to mention the mass hysteria this would cause between the citizens with everyone freaking out.
 

CastleRubric

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IMO I think we should focus on cyber warfare a whole lot more. What is everything becoming nowadays? Technology, internet, cyberspace. Do you honestly have any idea how bad we could screw a country? We could mess with their trade, their banking, their government, their markets. We could practically turn them off like a light switch. Not to mention the mass hysteria this would cause between the citizens with everyone freaking out.


The Air Force was our selected service branch to feature the first ever US Military "Cyber Command" -- so we're invested there on the military side

My company is paying young engineers something like 40K to become cyber security specialists (heard that from a peer face to face but do not know if it's internal only -- probably is)

Boeing was working on type of cruise missile that would release an EMP burst as it streaked by......kind of a 'drive by blackout'

There's a LOT of weaponry already online like that

Hacking into people's brains is the next frontier and DARPA is already funding it


The main thing is .... what do you do after you take an action like that?
Do you care if it traces back to you?

The FBI was busted using software techniques so that their hack attacks would APPEAR to have originated from other nations
So that's a 2 for 1 .... you take down a target....and get to blame someone else you want to marginalize or demonize etc

Behind all this is the development of AI that's quickly getting to the point where we'll have something that kind of....."runs on its own and makes its own decisions"


in a related angle -- we had Army helicopters with f'ing lasers now
and the Navy is about to outfit their destroyers with them as well


That's kind of cool


pew
pew
pew
 

Rupp'sRunt

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Obama would probably have allowed it. He hates this country anyway. It would really depend on what state or major city.
You forget he bombed tf out of the Middle East his last year. Every POTUS we have should have a "bomb the world" button before/after we get bombed
 

warrior-cat

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If you are worried about EMP, look up how to make your own Faraday cage, anti static bags, and covers that would protect your computers, radios and other electronic equipment. Also, older model trucks and vehicles (before the 80's) are a good thing to have although I have none of these myself. The military has been for a while trying to figure how to incorporate the Faraday concept into its vehicles but, not sure if there have been successful yet.
 

-Mav-

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...development of AI ... that kind of....."runs on its own and makes its own decisions"
I'm not worried about nukes as much as I am AI. We joke about Terminators/SKYNET becoming self-aware, but something very much like it is gonna happen...and sooner rather than later.
 
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Henogee1975

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Mutually assured destruction has prevented more wars in the last 60 years than anybody could ever imagine.
China, Russia, India don’t worry me because they would not want to do preemptive strike to US because they want to survive. I worry about Iran, NK, Pakistan, because they don’t give a crap about their countries or people.
 

Kaizer Sosay

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IMO I think we should focus on cyber warfare a whole lot more. What is everything becoming nowadays? Technology, internet, cyberspace. Do you honestly have any idea how bad we could screw a country? We could mess with their trade, their banking, their government, their markets. We could practically turn them off like a light switch. Not to mention the mass hysteria this would cause between the citizens with everyone freaking out.

Is there not already an attempt being made on this very front? And I believe it's being made AGAINST the USA.

IMHO bitcoin and other cyber currencies are just the next phase of a long list of attempts to replace the US dollar as the world's reserve currency. This may be the most clever attempt yet. Using some of our own population as one of the many culprits.

While I don't think cyber currencies could ever completely replace the physical dollar...I think they are being used in conjunction with other efforts to weaken the dollar.

Been saying for a long time that this is the one thing, outside of nuclear warfare, that will do our country the most harm. If the dollar ever completely loses its status as the world reserve currency...game over. Talk about citizens freaking out. Life as you now know it in this country would cease to exist.
 
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JonathanW_rivals

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If you are worried about EMP, look up how to make your own Faraday cage, anti static bags, and covers that would protect your computers, radios and other electronic equipment. Also, older model trucks and vehicles (before the 80's) are a good thing to have although I have none of these myself. The military has been for a while trying to figure how to incorporate the Faraday concept into its vehicles but, not sure if there have been successful yet.

How useful will a computer, radio, & other electronic equipment be if we took an EMP hit. It would disable cell-towers, radio broadcast towers, internet servers, etc...
The only useful things I could see is maybe any backup electronic pieces that your generator, motorcycle, etc... might need.
 

warrior-cat

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How useful will a computer, radio, & other electronic equipment be if we took an EMP hit. It would disable cell-towers, radio broadcast towers, internet servers, etc...
The only useful things I could see is maybe any backup electronic pieces that your generator, motorcycle, etc... might need.
Would really depend on size and volume of attack. All over the U.S., you would be correct.
On another note, I have none of these things. Just know that they are available.