Reply #7: Nuclear Brinkmanship

[ewagner]

As far as I know the only game of nuclear brinkmanship ever actually played out was Kennedy vs Khrushchev in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

I've studied that for a long time primarily because I lived in Florida when it happened and realized at the ripe, old age of 15, there was no high ground and no winners in any nuclear exchange. If you want a good idea of what I thought would happen, go check out a copy of the book Alas, Babylon!.

What saved us in 1962 wasn't just Kennedy's resolve and determination, but it was Kennedy's ability to recognize when to compromise, when to let your opponent off the hook and how to make concessions. Kennedy was magnitudes more intelligent than Dubya and while Dubya prides himself on his ability to "stick to" a decision, he fails to understand how that inflexibility negates any gains once the opponent starts to compromise.

A basic book on negotiating lays out the premise that you should always remind yourself that your goal is to reach a settlement. It is not, to kill your opponent.
God help us if he ever decided to play "brinkmanship" with a viable enemy. George wouldn't know when to quit. He wouldn't know when he had won, unless the whole frocking world was going up in smoke.