Your line of thinking demands we also abandon preparedness training for types of incident which haven't happened. This would also save money, until it does happen, and then we'd wring our hands.
The effectiveness of deterrents depends on how rational and well-informed your targets are. Shoplifting? Not so good. Corporate fraud? Better. Nuclear first launch? Pretty damn good. Remember when you read that Iran has announced something crazy that they're speaking to the home crowd. The Soviet Union did that too. "We will smite the oppressors", everybody cheers, and then you go back to planning peaceful accommodation. So this is a case (unlike say, "bring back the death penalty for kiddy fiddlers") where a deterrent can make sense.
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zvi and
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Date: 2010-10-13 12:12 pm (UTC)Your line of thinking demands we also abandon preparedness training for types of incident which haven't happened. This would also save money, until it does happen, and then we'd wring our hands.
The effectiveness of deterrents depends on how rational and well-informed your targets are. Shoplifting? Not so good. Corporate fraud? Better. Nuclear first launch? Pretty damn good. Remember when you read that Iran has announced something crazy that they're speaking to the home crowd. The Soviet Union did that too. "We will smite the oppressors", everybody cheers, and then you go back to planning peaceful accommodation. So this is a case (unlike say, "bring back the death penalty for kiddy fiddlers") where a deterrent can make sense.