A piece I wrote in yesterday’s Albuquerque Journal about a new approach to maintaining the U.S. nuclear stockpile has triggered some thoughtful discussion at the Arms Control Wonk blog. See also some stuff on my Journal blog, and the usual crappy anonymous comments but a few good signed ones at the LANL blog.
jfleck at inkstain
A few thoughts from John Fleck, a writer of journalism and other things, living in New Mexico
[…] “My work becomes the deterrent, not so much the products of my work,” said Martz, an advocate of the virtual swords concept. […]
“My work becomes the deterrent…” strikes me as a naive statement.
Apropos to Thomas Freidman’s “The Undeterrables” (NYT ~ 2002), the enemies of the U.S. (jihadists and their ilk) are not deterred by real swords much less virtual ones. They believe that their own deaths, in support of myopic tribal goals, will be rewarded by Allah.
The entities that will be deterred by ‘virtual swords’ are responsible nation states. These entities have already been deferred effectively by economic considerations.
So ‘virtual swords’ strikes me as a short term political strategy for gaining votes and, possibly, cutting costs.
What have I missed?
“Virtual swords’ may reduce the U.S.’s carbon footprint by one part in a billion, but that is another topic for another day.