President Obama's Naive Nuclear Posturing

Investors.com ^ | April 9, 2010 | The great Charles Krauthammer

[raptor22]

Nuclear doctrine consists of thinking the unthinkable. It involves making threats and promising retaliation that is cruel and destructive beyond imagining. But it has its purpose: to prevent war in the first place.

During the Cold War, we let the Russians know that if they dared use their huge conventional military advantage and invaded Western Europe, they risked massive U.S. nuclear retaliation. Goodbye Moscow. Was this credible? Would we have done it? Who knows? No one's ever been there. A nuclear posture is just that — a declaratory policy designed to make the other guy think twice.

Our policies did. The result was called deterrence. For half a century, it held. The Soviets never invaded. We never used nukes. That's why nuclear doctrine is important.

[fatnotlazy]

He’s not at all naive. He knows exactly what he’s doing. Destroying America.

[FrankR]

[doc]

Naive was when GW stated about Putin, “I looked into his eyes and saw a good man”.

[Canedawg]

I read this earlier today. Had to take a train and I read one of those things...what did they call them...newspapers!!

“Quite insane...morally bizarre...(T)he naivete is stunning...strategically loopy...”

I’d say Charles touched all the bases.

[The_Media_never_lie]

Obama has the reverse Midas touch. Everything he touches turns to manure.

[TigersEye]

Charles is smart and funny. 0bama is ... not.

[Young Werther]

I trust him when it comes to a navel engagement.

He's got rings on his fingers and bells on his toes...

[NM92]

Id disagree with your reason for why we had nuclear weapons during the cold war. It was not to prevent them from invading Europe and Asia, cause if we nuked Moscow while they were invading a country. They'd just respond by sending a nuke at one of our major cities, which would start nuclear war and eventually destroy the planet. We only had them for barganing chips

[lentulusgracchus]

Id disagree with your reason for why we had nuclear weapons during the cold war.

Well, then, John Foster Dulles and Jack Kennedy and Robert MacNamara disagree with you.

We had them as deterrents.