Russian tanks enter South Ossetia

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Of course, theirs no doubt about that. Hand in hand, the United States needs to do the same exact things regarding their missile defenses. Don't you think it would be more logical to have a defense system protecting America first and be ongoing development so when Iran or any other state builds an ICBM, we are not playing a game of catch up? Or should we wait till they have a missile, be 100% sure, start progress to a defense system, wait 10,20, maby 30 years for the shield to be operational? We need to build a shield for the upcoming threat. Iran may not be a threat today, but it sure might as hell be in the close future.

The main argument I have against the missile shield is not so much that you are developing it, but that the bush admin is insisting on putting it in poland and checkoslovakia. If you had it on your own soil I would not mind it much, that doesnt endanger europe.

But when it comes to Iran, waiting untill you have proof that iran is acctually trying to build nuclear weapons would be a nice first step. I agree that it seems likely that they are doing it, but so far there is not one single shred of conclusive evidence for it.

But even if they get a nuke I dont se any reason for america to be afraid, Iran is not run by terrorists that would sacrifice their entire country.

Their are ways to nuke the United States which is sometimes easier then ICBMS, but nukes that can fit inside a suitcase are a matter of fiction, nuclear devices are hefty pieces of equipment especially for nations that just acquired them and I'm sure customs are really restricting their level of detection post 9/11. It requires protection from customs and missiles.

Well I wasnt talking about a suitcase kind of nuke, even though they are not impossible they are far beyond the capabilities of iran etc. But smuggling in a full sized bomb in a container would not be very hard, containers are not scanned for fissile materials. Hell I dont think any border controll scans for fissile material regulary. Its not very easy unless you got some gamma emitting contaminant in the weapon. Otherwise you have to hit it with a burst of neutrons and look for coincidence emissions of neutrons from the material.

Smuggling it across the mexican border would probably not be that hard either.

Why would Iran launch against the United States knowing that they would get destroyed? Do you think Bin Laden thought the United States wasn't going to retaliate after killing more then 3,000 Americans on US soil? Take for example North Korea, Kim Jong-il would sacrifice his whole country to make a devastating blow to the United States, nobody can put themselves into their shoes.

Bin Laden and Ali Khamenei can not be compared like that. Have you any reason to belive Khamenei is mentaly unstable enough to sacrifice his own people to take out at most one american city? I dont se any reason for Kim Jong to do it either, dictator yes. But I se no reason to belive he would die just to strike the US. People said Nikita Khrushchev was crazy aswell.

The United States is a long way from creating an effective missile defense system too. Would you rather be prepared or playing catchup?

Well Im not american so for me it doesnt matter either way, aslong as any shield you develop doesnt put the rest of the world in danger. As the proposed shield in checkoslovakia and poland is! If you developed it and hosted it on american soil I would have no problem with it really. But putting it on the border of russia, that is just asking for troubble.

Suitcase nukes are not what you think, United States and Russia have them and they are the size of a small car. No nuke can be as small as a suitcase.

Look up the davy crocket nuke, this is how small you can make them if you got the technology.


The critical mass of Pu or U-235 doesnt take up much space, in the case of a bare sphere of Pu239 its only 10cm diameter or roughly 4 inches. Reflected even less, its getting a nice and effective implosion device to fit into a small volume that is the hard part.

Forget about Iran and North Korea? Why? You really do not make sense, North Korea and Iran are threats. I really do not feel like repeating myself over and over.

Tell me this, I want to hear it from you personally, how can 10 interceptors affect the outcome of a nuclear war between China and/or Russia? I do not know how many times I said it, it wont!

It wont but from Russian eyes first its a huge insult, like spitting them in the face. Second for all they know its a first step to building a much larger system and one more step in NATO encircling Russia. The important thing isnt how effective the system, its how much of a threat the russians feel it is in the long run. Politics has never been rational and russia will react against what they think is a clear provocation. They have to, just as america had to react to the cuban missiles.

[Panzerfaust]

it wont but from russian eyes first its a huge insult, like spitting them in the face. Second for all they know its a first step to building a much larger system and one more step in nato encircling russia. the important thing isnt how effective the system, its how much of a threat the russians feel it is in the long run. Politics has never been rational and russia will react against what they think is a clear provocation. They have to, just as america had to react to the cuban missiles.

bingo!