Let me pose the same question to you that I posed to Jeff, i.e. Why should they risk a devastating nuclear counterstrike by attempting a preemptive military strike when they do not have to fire a shot?
They likely won't have to if current trends of corruption hold. But it is likely their fall-back strategem if we ever wake up out of the de-industrializing trade-stupor, and seek to end the defense holiday.
And let me ask you in turn, why they have invested as much effort and political capital in abetting global nuclear proliferation? Just for kicks? It isn't just that they think there is "safety in numbers" but that the issue of the authorship of any comprehensive Pearl Harbor pre-emption of U.S. strategic forces must be made nebulous. Several "fall-guys" have been cultivated.
To be effective, their real nuclear attack capability...must come as a complete surprise. One so surprising, that we will have blithefully continued the nuclear defense holiday as well...unsuspecting of the threat. "Dwelling carelessly in the isles."
W has, to my knowledge, never reversed Xlinton's 1996 Executive Order eliminating the launch codes from the Trident submarine commanders. Operation Looking Glass remains mothballed.
It is almost as if we are inviting the sucker punch.