Some quick'n'dirty translation of portion of Pavel Ievlev "The Door to Solitude" book... Have fun this weekend...
"The idiocy of the situation is that actually nuclear weapons were not created to be actually used. This is such a thing, that was supposed to guarantee its own non-use by the very fact of its existence - because the consequences were such that it would be more than enough to anyone. The essence of the concept of "nuclear deterrence" is that both sides KNOW that this deterrent is: "We hit - the whole world is in ruins!" But the Cold War ended by you know whose victory, the losing side had the corresponding consequences - territorial losses, population decline , external management, resource and financial reparations, the destruction of industry and culture, a catastrophic decline in living standards and so on. Woe to the vanquished! But the winners, who turned out to be sovereign rulers of the world, suddenly turned out to be sad and lonely on this peak.
The Evil Empire was showered with worthless limotrophs, a terrible Russian bear clumsily and funnyly danced squatting for a hamburger, a simple Texas redneck was proud of the victory and condescendingly sympathized with the "poor hungry Russian". It was very inspiring and prestigious, but completely, completely unprofitable!
- My God! - dreamily rolling their eyes, the aged Rockefeller, Rothschild and Lehman were stinging at each other at the time of evening enema. - What a business it was! Yes, you still can't even imagine what kind of business it was! Ah, God bless me, do to us, as it was!
Do you think siphoning of budgets is a Russian national invention? Yeah, compared to the amounts that was siphoned by military orders in the United States, our oligarchs are childrens who did not share the scoop in the sandbox. The current grandchildren of the then multimillionaires only lick their lips nervously while listening to the stories of Brzezinski's peers. The distant, but such a terrible Empire of Evil, allowed to do anything in domestic and foreign policy, especially in terms of the military budget, because the population was really scared from these terrible, treacherous and completely reckless Russians.
But after ceasing to look anxiously at the horizon in search of an inversion trail of Russian missiles and wake up at night, anxiously listening to it - are the tracks of Russian tanks clanking outside the window? - The American layman began to wonder unhealthily: where is his money, why some garbage with medicine, why it is crooked with education, why crime is naughty, what the hell are blacks, and with what hell the whole industry was poured into China. And here, the terrorists carefully nourished against the USSR suddenly turned out to be not as tame as they appeared in the CIA reports. And it suddenly turned out that the vacant place of the Evil Empire in the world consciousness for some reason was taken ... by the USA itself!
And somehow t was immediately remembered how good it was during the Cold War, how satisfying, monetary and positive! Yes, just on propaganda they wrote off so much money!... And here even the "Voice of America" had to be closed, because against the "Echo of Moscow" he sounded like "Good night, kids" evening TV show. It's a shame!
And, naturally, they decided that they would not scatter good enemies. Friends, they say, we will always buy for ourselves, but where to take such a good convenient enemy like Russia. The rest, whom you don't take, is all kind of fearless trifle, except China ... But it was difficult with China, the whole industry went there, big money was invested there, and iPhones were made there.
In general, when an unfinished Russia began to recover slowly, they not hindered in this. They preferred not to notice. Of course, no one wanted to return the real USSR, but it was a pleasure to pump such a terrible-looking, but not too strong "inflatable enemy". So that China have something to be distracted, so that Europe does not get arrogant, and most importantly, so that its own population again remembers Russian bears and becomes afraid. And yes - new, much tastier, military budgets for old songs about the main thing: "Oh, dear Congress, these fcuking Russians have strengthened, they have strengthened! They will beat us now! "
The process went to mutual pleasure - the US media horizon sparkled again with menacing silhouettes of an inflatable Mordor, the charismatic Kremlin's Mr. Evil behaved moderately harshly and mysteriously smiled with a cold face, world politics blossomed joyfully with old rainbows of a new confrontation, NATO returned to the rhetoric "Well, let's show to these Russians!.... "
And then suddenly someone tried to kick the inflatable Russia, so that it jumped ridiculously - and damaged the leg. Because Russia - suddenly - was not so inflatable as was commonly believed in the western establishment. But the work was done - a new generation of politicians grew up, accustomed to the fact that there really is no restraint, and "we made it all up ourselves." Accustomed to act without looking back and not used to measuring their actions with nuclear weapons, as a global factor. While the seasoned Cold War dinosaurs still lived in their headquarters and Senate commissions, remembering what it was like to sit in the bunker and sweat nervously, looking at the screens of over-the-horizon radars, common sense was somehow taken into account, but the Pentagon's old staff went out of circulation, and their successors already during "Three Eights War" seriously discussed the scenario of a tactical nuclear weapon strike on the Roki Tunnel. Then, fortunately, there was someone who was able to hold them. From my current case, it implied inexorably that now we are dealing with people who are NOT AFRAID.
No, they do not want a global nuclear apocalypse and the death of mankind with beloved themselves. They simply do not believe that situation will come to this final, just as children do not believe that they are mortal. True, they believe that war will be easy and quick, and there are not a pity about the Baltic states and various Poles, and in other Europe there has long been no practical sense. But "reloading the world economy" with writing off old debts and redistributing resources - this makes practical sense.
According to the results of monitoring and situational analysis, the vast majority of those who influence the decision on the use of nuclear weapons are positive or neutral in their use. Those few who actively warn against such an attitude (mainly army officers in not the highest positions) are immediately marginalized, often with negative consequences for their careers, so their voices do not affect the situation. Some of the top officials and military functionaries are in a situation of "forced consent", when speaking out against a dominant position seems too dangerous to them, so they are also not ready to act as a deterrent. And it does not depend on whose ass is sitting in the White House, because the administration staff plays the president, and the administration staff never changes.
In general and briefly, the argumentation of proponents of the use of nuclear weapons ... has several options.
First - Come on, do you seriously think that they will fire the whole arsenal in return, and not run to scribble plaintive notes at the UN? Yes ... definitely! We are the strongest cowboys in this saloon!
The second is that if the Russians turn out to be crazy enough to answer, then they will fire not to the USA, but to the NATO-based places in Europe - that is, to the Poles and other not so European countries. Maybe even the Turks will get something. Okay, fakin, let's be realistic - the Germans can get it too. Yes, we a little sorry for Europe, but if you think about it, let they go to hell, fewer competitors. Potential profits will cover everything.
Thirdly, if the Russians turn out to be completely fakin crazy bastards and will smack in response with all the Slavic wrath, then our missile defense system will successfully knock all these rusty flying buckets of the times of the USSR on takeoff, and if anything collapses, then it will go to Europe, and to hell with it. And if a couple of pieces reach the United States, then, apparently, it will not explode. And if it explodes, then we will do fine without a couple of cities full of welfare blacks, mortgage non-payers and other parasites. On the contrary, popular anger and crying are perfectly monetized, because the Homeland is in danger.
Fourth - if you beat the first and immediately with all its might, the Russians will not be able to answer us, because there will be no Russians. It is necessary to knock everything out to the state of the lunar soil with the first blow ... And as for the nuclear winter - so, come on, scientists are overestimating. Nobody checked it. Yes, it will be difficult to extract resources in radioactive wastelands, but it's not for our own hands to be dirty - some Ukrainians will willingly do it for us.
Fifth ... Sixth ... Seventh ... - there were enough options for "sort of shoving nuclear weapons so that there was nothing for us", and they differed mainly in the degree of "permissible reciprocal damage".
- During the debate, the question was raised about whether I would be ready to use nuclear weapons as an awesome force. And my answer was: "Yes!" "- said the new English Prime Minister in public ...
In private conversations, some Decision-makers reached cannibalism, unique in its cynicism. Subject: "Looks like there is a bit too much people in the world. We don't need so much ... " became seriously relevant topic on the sidelines of the Western establishment. Oh yeah, there was still a separate trend on the topic that stated that need to start with the Chinese, but what they are....
All these people were quite calmly ready to kill all the Russians (well, it would be nice to reduce number of the Chinese at the same time, yes ...) just to get more money. No ... just think about it - for the money! On military contracts, on collapses of exchanges, on write-offs of debts, on the redistribution of world resources, on cheap labor and other attributes of global chaos. Big, astronomical - but just money. Zeros in the computer. ... No, I never understand this. And after all, they are not crazy, they are more than logical and reasonable - just such a system of values has been established in our society with one universal measure of success.