🚀 go-pugleaf

David Birdsey (birdhaex@cais3.cais.com) wrote:
: 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. 

Is your doubt level high enough that you are willing to bet your own
life and the lives of everyone you know (and many you don't) in some
arbitrary city (your home town, say) on that?

Do you walk in dangerous neighborhoods at night secure in the knowledge
that nobody would harm you because they'd be punished by the police if
they did?

The world is a dangerous neighborhood.

-- Al