🚀 go-pugleaf

Rand Simberg (simberg@ix.netcom.com) wrote:
: In <3r4iap$o5j@news.cais.com> birdhaex@cais3.cais.com (David Birdsey)
: writes: 
:  
: >Similary, what nation would launch a single missile when the result
: >would 
: >be to turn (Insert enemy du jour here) into rubble?  Ultimately, in 

: There seems to be an implicit assumption here that the keepers of power
: in those countries that might do such a launch (e.g., Iran, North
: Korea, etc.) are rational actors.  There is some amount of empirical
: evidence that casts doubt on such an assumption.

Yes, there is that assumption, although I'd be interested in what sources
you have on defining such leaders as "irrational."  But to be "rational"
in this sense only requires that the actor involved wishes to continue in
existence.  Faced with a choice between tweaking the U.S. on the one hand
by perhaps destroying a city and the end of national existence on the
other hand from U.S. retailiation, I doubt even Qaddafi (or whatever the
current spelling is) or young Kim would opt for a strike. 

--
David Birdsey | "Don't rejoice in Victory. For while you've killed the
              |  Beast, the bitch that bore him is in heat again." 
                                                      -Bertholt Brecht
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