While I wait for the results to come in, frozen into an immobility of apprehension, let me make one more observation about “tactical nuclear weapons.”
I assume that we are all familiar with the distinction
between military strategy and tactics. Strategy may be planned with maps and
sand tables, but tactics, according to long-established military wisdom, can
only be learned on the battlefield. That is one reason, among others, why those
who wish to rise to the rank of general are well advised, early in their
careers, to command a platoon or company in battle.
Only two nuclear weapons have ever been used in battle – the
two fission devices that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing several
hundred thousand Japanese in two momentary flashes. Neither of those was in any recognizable
sense a battlefield use of a nuclear weapon. Several generations of military
officers have enlisted, been commissioned, risen to general staff status,
retired and died without any of them ever using or even reading about the use
of a nuclear weapon on a battlefield.
Thus, when television commentators or military experts or
even men and women in uniform talk about “low yield tactical weapons” they have
no more direct knowledge whereof they speak then they would if they talked
about light sabers.
Will Putin use one or more nuclear weapons in Ukraine? God,
I hope not but I have no idea. However I am quite sure of one thing – neither
he nor any of his generals has any real idea what a “tactical” use of such a
weapon would be.
I doubt a nation with this population distribution will provoke a nuclear war.
ReplyDeletehttps://maireyart.tumblr.com/image/173664658145
Also, consider the recent Russian attempt to shut down the grain agreement. Putin backed down after Erdogan laid down the law. Putin was covered in flop sweat when he announced Russia was back in.
Almost anticipating s. wallerstein's last comment on the previous post, an unexpectedly moving bit from the marvelous Diane Morgan, as if breaking character of the determinedly thick Philomena Cunk, with Abba replacing wallerstein's Mozart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zabCBnUHLA&ab_channel=GeorgeHowe
ReplyDeleteWhen you're in your teens (or 20's) and you watch a war movie, like Saving Private Ryan, you imagine you will be one of the toughest in that movie. When you hit your 40s & you see men with their guts out, and burnt to death, or shot up, in that same movie, you say to yourself: that's me if I was there! If only men in their teens thought like men in their prime (or past their prime), there would be almost no war.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'll have to go listen to Abba's "Dancing Queen" at some point this evening.
ReplyDeleteNot, tbh, that I'm really looking forward to it. ;)
My daughter and I just got home from voting in Canton, Michigan. Turn-out was very high; the parking lot was jam packed and every polling booth was taken.
ReplyDeleteNow to watch the returns and hope.
I voted at around 4 p.m. in Maryland (suburban not rural). Turnout seemed to be good. Not that Md. matters in the national context.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I'm going to bother watching the PBS coverage via computer (probably my only video option). I may just wait and look at the digital front page of the paper tom. a.m.
Not so bad. Arizona looks good. Boebert is trailing, Katie Porter won, the corrupt L.A. County sheriff lost, Michigan and Pennsylvania yea.
ReplyDeleteProf. Wolff, Russia is the junior partner in team China/Russia and Xi has been quite vocal about not threatening to use or using nukes. Ditto India. Too bad about Beasley; maybe Senate Dems should have spent more.
is it not the case that the distinction between "tactical" and "strategic" nuclear weapons is no more than a semantic gimmick devised by military and political leaders who wanted to circumvent a taboo. Putin's threat and the more or less clear response to this threat clearly shows how strategic tactical nuclear weapons are.
ReplyDeleteWell, we missed the bullet. The Senate hangs in the balance, with Nevada and Georgia still undecided. Fetterman’s victory in Pennsylvania saved the day. Hail to Michigan. The Democrats prevailed up and down the ticket, and amended the Michigan Constitution to protect women’s reproductive freedom.
ReplyDeleteI am going to go out on a limb and make an outrageous prediction for the 2024 election. The Republicans are going to nominate DeSants. Trump is till going to insist on running, splitting the Republican ticket, as Taft and Roosevelt did in 1912. Biden will be re-elected as a result.
But Vance won in Ohio. :(
ReplyDelete