It doesn't get much attention in the press these days but in spite of the supposed end of the Cold War, you and yours are still just minutes away from a having a really bad Mad Max-kinda day, especially now that more than a few Armageddon fantasists have the ears of those in power.
As outrageous as it sounds, the US and Russia
still point thousands of ICBM nuclear warheads at each other in a hair-trigger posture, which means that anything-- computer misreading, clerical error, some combination thereof-- can prompt POTUS and a single other person to launch the nukes and initiate a nuclear Armageddon, deliberately or not. In fact in 1983 and in 1995 (after the USSR's breakup), we were minutes away from a nuclear Holocaust when Russian early warning systems falsely indicated a US launch (reflection of sun off clouds in '83, a Norwegian weather rocket (!) in '95). In the second case, the Russians had actually
retrieved the launch codes when a Russian submarine made a crucial call that prompted Yeltsin to stand down. We may not be so lucky next time; as any gambler knows, eventually the unlikely scenario may well come to pass if conditions remain the same, and in this case the downside of an error is so catastrophic that there's no margin for error.
The reason for this ongoing outrage is that the US has still refused to renounce the principle of a nuclear first-strike and nuclear preemption, and refuses to detarget the nukes pointed in the direction of Russia's cities. The Russians would love nothing more than such a detargeting, which would allow them to stop draining so much of their scarce resources away in a ridiculous hair-trigger nuclear posture, but antiquated notions still put hundreds of millions at risk. No one can win a nuclear war, but so many idiots are still steeped in the lunacy of the Wohlstetter doctrine (the guy who inspired Dr. Strangelove-- 'nuff said) that we remain in catastrophic danger every waking minute.
We, as a democratic polity, should not stand for this. I simply do not want the government of my country, bereft of outside input, with the power to initiate a Nuclear Holocaust within minutes for no reason, claiming to be "defending us." This has to be the most grotesque infringement on personal liberties and safety imaginable, perpetrated by a government that has far too much power to ruin American (and Russian) civilization on a whim or a blunder. It does not speak for us in this area, and there should be an outcry by the people. This issue has become urgent not only because of the hazard of accidental launch, but because there is no shortage of fundies close to the Dubya brigades who might like to "help" Armageddon along with nuclear weapons. Reagan invited the Armageddon-obsessed Hal Lindsey in to policy discussions about nuclear strategy, and some of his cabinet members openly professed a belief that a nuclear holocaust was soon in coming (hence the boost-the-deficit like there's no tomorrow fiscal policy and environmental neglect).
In 2004, there are more than a few Armageddonites
in high places who want to take a more "active role," waging war across the Middle East to extend Israel's borders to Egypt and Iraq to meet "Biblical promises" and demolish the mosque residing at the Temple Mount; from there, some are just eager to launch the nukes (supposedly bringing about the Rapture). And it's not all that farfetched. Of all the actions a government can take, a preemptive massive nuclear strike has among the fewest checks and balances-- no debate, little consultation with cooler heads. A President and another high-ranking official, for whatever reasons, can turn the keys and launch the nukes on the pretext of "national security," just two people, owing to the chain-of-command principle and the tiny time window (a few minutes) for a launch assessment. Furthermore, history has shown how easy it is to have two lunatic, brainwashed individuals in positions of leadership. While Dubya (I hope) is not so far gone himself, the church-state partition has been breached and there's a reasonable probability that one of his even more zealous successors will claim a "divine commandment" to push the Rapture and Tribulations along in their own fouled-up interpretation. (For obvious reasons, many of the Armageddonite fundies, often Dispensationalist followers of a 19th-century fringe denomination, oppose nuclear arms reductions-- hand in hand with the neocon idiots.)
This can't continue-- no group, no institution should have this much power. It's unconscionable. Our nukes must be detargeted, and
sharply reduced; there's simply no need for thousands of nuclear weapons, which are essentially "dumb weapons" that cause enormous damage to civilian populations and non-military regions. A sensible deterrent would be that like what nearly every other nuclear nation has-- in the range of 20-30 devices, more than enough to convince any would-be invader to back off. The only reason this outrage has continued is the lack of attention to it (and short attention span of the media). Libertarians talk about outright secession from the nation because of something like this; I just hope we can convince our elected officials to rethink our nuclear posture instead, especially now that we have less-than-rational people a bit too close to the keys that launch the missiles.
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