Meanwhile in Iraq & Syria

[jediuser598]

Damn, looking like most the old crew is back together.

Had this funny scene in my head, WWIII is about to start, and we're all still talking shit to each other and about our respective countries. Not that WWIII is about to start, but that's probably what we'd be doing.

What would freak you out, boots? What would make you say "head for the hills fellas, shit's bout to go down!"

[Smitty-48]

It's a good plan, except every four to eight years some peacenik counter president comes along and ruins the Clint Eastwood image. You'd have to be playing Russian Roulette, with the Russians, every four to eight years, and there might be a nuke inside one of those chambers.

If there's not a nuke in the chamber, then it won't work, has to be a nuke in the chamber, and Josey Wales still ain't stopping, that's the only way to out crazy Crazy Ivan, has to be real, bluffing doesn't work, can't be a bluff, have to be resolved to go all the way, and then make Mr. Ivan blink, at which point, you will have his respect, and then he won't fuck with you anymore, he'll actually become quite obseqious after that, for a generation or so at least, each generation has to learn the lesson, people forget what it was like at the brink staring into the abyss, so it needs to be renewed periodically, which, there it is, that's how the Balance of Terror works, the only way in fact.

[Smitty-48]

What would freak you out, boots? What would make you say "head for the hills fellas, shit's bout to go down!"

Better leave now, or you'll never make them hills, it could go down anytime, and it will go down so fast, the first warning you will have, is the brilliant light in the sky, so if you're planning on heading for the hills, you need to go now, there won't be time at the brink, if you wait for the brink, its already too late.

[JohnDonne]

What would freak you out, boots? What would make you say "head for the hills fellas, shit's bout to go down!"

Better leave now, or you'll never make them hills, it could go down anytime, and it will go down so fast, the first warning you will have, is the brilliant light in the sky, so if you're planning on heading for the hills, you need to go now, there won't be time at the brink, if you wait for the brink, its already too late.

I think one time you said Southern Oregon was a sweet spot, like around Medford?

[JohnDonne]

It's a good plan, except every four to eight years some peacenik counter president comes along and ruins the Clint Eastwood image. You'd have to be playing Russian Roulette, with the Russians, every four to eight years, and there might be a nuke inside one of those chambers.

If there's not a nuke in the chamber, then it won't work, has to be a nuke in the chamber, and Josey Wales still ain't stopping, that's the only way to out crazy Crazy Ivan, has to be real, bluffing doesn't work, can't be a bluff, have to be resolved to go all the way, and then make Mr. Ivan blink, at which point, you will have his respect, and then he won't fuck with you anymore, he'll actually become quite obseqious after that, for a generation or so at least, each generation has to learn the lesson, people forget what it was like at the brink staring into the abyss, so it needs to be renewed periodically, which, there it is, that's how the Balance of Terror works, the only way in fact.

I mean, maybe it would last a generation.

But really, how would a Jill Stein or a Gary Johnson carry the nuke credibility after President Eastwood's term ends?

Another thing is, if I'm Russian and I see the Americans have made our leader back down because he's just that hard, then I would want my own Ivan Eastonovich. There might be escalation all the same, only of rhetorical hard-assery, each side determined to carry it to the brink.

And I would rather have a bluffer that seems the genuine article than the genuine article if he doesn't carry the credibility.

[Smitty-48]

What would freak you out, boots? What would make you say "head for the hills fellas, shit's bout to go down!"

Better leave now, or you'll never make them hills, it could go down anytime, and it will go down so fast, the first warning you will have, is the brilliant light in the sky, so if you're planning on heading for the hills, you need to go now, there won't be time at the brink, if you wait for the brink, its already too late.

I think one time you said Southern Oregon was a sweet spot, like around Medford?

Yeah, Oregon, nothern California, and northern Idaho, that's a sweet spot, north of SoCal, south of Washington State, there's no strategic targets to the west of that, so prevailing winds are a go.

[Smitty-48]

I mean, maybe it would last a generation.

But really, how would a Jill Stein or a Gary Johnson carry the nuke credibility after President Eastwood's term ends?

Another thing is, if I'm Russian and I see the Americans have made our leader back down because he's just that hard, then I would want my own Ivan Eastonovich. There might be escalation all the same, only of rhetorical hard-assery, each side determined to carry it to the brink.

And I would rather have a bluffer that seems the genuine article than the genuine article if he doesn't carry the credibility.

Neither he likes of Jill Stein nor Gary Johnson, nor any panty waist like that, is ever going to get anywhere near the Oval Office, so, problem solved.

Ivan Eastonovich doesn't exist, here's the thing, it's not that the Russians are bluffing, but the thing about the Russians, for them, this is very real, it's not like America, they've suffered total anihiltion, 20 million plus killed, country totallly destroyed right down to the wood, and that's ingrained deep in their culture, so this actually gives America a leg up, because for Americans, they never really believe that it would actually happen, America has never been anihilated, so culturally, it's not ingrained as a reality, and this ultimately, is what allows America to out crazy Crazy Ivan when America gets its back up and takes it to the brink, the Russians blink first, because they know it is real, Americans won't blink, because in the end, Americans don't beleive it could happen to America, not really, not deep down in their bones, and that gives America the edge, when it comes to playing nuclear chicken.

[JohnDonne]

So our blustering and ignorance of the reality of total annihilation is our strength. I like that.

[Smitty-48]

Precisely, Russia is deeply scarred, as a society, by one man made catastrophic disaster after the next, just a mercilessly brutal slog, for 250 years, so while at the tactical level, they may be tough, at the strategic level, they are traumatized, whereas America is blissfully ignorant of all that, and this is why America always wins in the Balance of Terror, the Russians actually believe that it is inevitable, nuclear anihilation is assured, it's just a matter of time, so when it comes time to look into the abyss, the Russians feel the pull and recoil from it, whereas Americans, they will always go just a little further, because in the end, in God you trust, the baby Jesus will save America, somehow, some way, even right at the brink, whereas the Russians know that Jesus ain't coming, God has forsaken Russia too many times, so they blink first, and this is how America wins all the Cold Wars.

[jediuser598]

How you been, John and Smitty? Been a while.