Apropos of nothing

Great article, Maggie! Thanks for the link!

For what it's worth, Iran is just doing what they believe they need to do stay alive. The Central Intelligence Agency of the United States orchestrated the overthrow of a democratically elected government in the 1950's and installed a dictator. We in the U.S. might consider this ancient history but for a culture that has been around for thousands of years, that is very recent. They saw that the U.S. invaded Iraq but not North Korea. Hence, they say, "We need nukes!"

Of course, had Agent Orange not tore up the 2015 agreement that was put together by our allies and frenemies, this would all not be happening.

As the Iranians see it, if Israel has nuclear weapons, they must have nuclear weapons. Of course, if Iran gets nuclear weapons, then Saudi Arabia will want to have their own nuclear weapons. This is what happened with India. Since China had nuclear weapons, then India had to have them. And if India had them, then Pakistan had to have them, too.

So far, it has worked. As Margaret Thatcher said, "The world cannot cancel the knowledge of how to make them." She famously added that a world without nuclear weapons would be more dangerous. Well, there is some validity to this argument ... until someone like Trump comes along. Someone like Trump can not comprehend the worldwide destruction that a nuclear war would unleash. As he was campaigning in 2016, Trump asked former Director of Central Intelligence and ex-National Security Agency Director Michael Hayden what's the use of having nuclear weapons if you can't use them. Couple that with his denigration of Senator John McCain, a man who spent five years in a North Vietnamese prison camp after being downed by multiple surface to air missiles. It is beyond me how any thinking person could have voted for Trump in 2016, let alone in 2020.

Trump Asks Why Can't the US Use Nuclear Weapons

Of course, we in San Diego/Tijuana are very lucky. If a nuclear war breaks out, we will be vaporized fairly quickly. Some of us will have to endure a few weeks of radiation poisoning but there should be plenty of methods for easing the pain permanently before the torturesome end stage arrives.

If you are really worried about a nuclear war, my advice would be to get out of the Northern Hemisphere. Move to Tierra del Fuego or Tasmania and learn to raise goats and grow grains. One wonders about the prospects for Mexico and Zihuatanejo in particular if a worldwide nuclear war broke out. It is difficult to model but the economies of both Mexico and Canada would be devastated, to say the least. Any thoughts from long-time residents?

P.S. I betcha' Ukraine is now really, really unhappy that they gave up their nukes after the dissolution of the USSR! (Who knows? Maybe they did not hand over *all* their nuclear weapons. Senor Putin, are you sure Ukraine doesn't have any? It would be such a shame if Moscow were to go boom.)

P.P.S. I love this forum!