zimboe posted:

Dammit, I have proposed a serious question here.
Now in the old days, during the Cold War, which many Goonsirs are too young to have experienced- the nightmares that many children had at the prospect of instant annihilation at a moment's notice, as I had,
You Goons have never heard the air raid sirens in the 60's whooping and the silly "Duck and Cover" films they showed me. I knew as only a child that it was bullshit and lies.

the prospect of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) moderated ( a carefully chosen word) the Cold War between the old CCCP and USA.
This worked because neither civilization was irrational and wanted to survive.
...
Now take the Israelis; culturally traumatized by the Holocaust, and the radical Iranians bound by the quest for a fictional Paradise.
I question if MAD will work against a culture that doesn't value reality.