At 06:39 PM 1/25/96 -0500, Jay Holovacs wrote:
I might suppose that a significant reason why the nuclear arms race did not come to blows was the balance of espionage between NSA/CIA/KGB etc. With accurate information on your enemy, one is less likely to be panicked into a preemtive strike.
On the other hand, with inaccurate information concerning enemy capabilities and will, one is more likely to believe that the enemy is incapable of destroying you from the grave, or lacks the necessary will to destroy the world in response to a small "surgical" nuclear strike. They called it the peace of fear, the peace of terror, and the pax atomica. They did not call it the peace of the NSA --------------------------------------------------------------------- | We have the right to defend ourselves | http://www.jim.com/jamesd/ and our property, because of the kind | of animals that we are. True law | James A. Donald derives from this right, not from the | arbitrary power of the state. | jamesd@echeque.com