A Successful U.S. Missile Intercept Ends the Era of Nuclear Stability

A Successful U.S. Missile Intercept Ends the Era of Nuclear Stability

(Bloomberg Opinion) — This month, an intercontinental ballistic missile was fired in the general direction of the Hawaiian islands. During its descent a few…

Since the Cold War, stability — and thus peace — has been preserved through the macabre reality of mutual assured destruction, or MAD. No nation will launch a first strike if it expects immediate retaliation in kind. A different way of describing MAD is mutual vulnerability

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-11-30/a-successful-u-s-missile-intercept-ends-the-era-of-nuclear-stability

Not sure this is a permanent game changer. Other countries will eventually develop this capability and then we’ll just have MUD, or mutually uncertain destruction.

In any case, the article reminds me of a fascinating story I heard on the radio a while ago about a Russian named Stanislav Petrov who likely averted nuclear war in the 1980’s. There’s a quick listen for below for those interested: