Russia threatens to nuke poland

[stof]

Sqrl said:

 

Because those developing countermeasures are doing it for defensive reasons. I'm sure you're quite familiar with the concept of MAD. Right now that is the best defence any nation (including the U.S.) has against being a nuclear target. Were the missile defense shield to actually work, suddenly the U.S. is free of this principle. And every country who isn't friends with the U.S. now has to look at the prospect of an enemy that can fire thousands of nuclear weapons but is itself guarded against such an attack. The logical step for those countries is to find new ways to defend themselves, both technological and strategic. This thread is in regard to a strategic defense, with Russia pointing out that countries that aid the United States in toppling this nuclear stalemate can find themselves subject to the consequences.

When it comes to Nuclear weapons, the missile shield and "rogue nations" defence and offence are inseparable. 

But unlike the US these nations are bypassing the defense rather than developing their own defense. You said it yourself above actually (see bolded).

If you're afraid of being nuked you develope a defense, if you want to use nukes you bypass nuclear defenses. 

Shouldn't the goal be MAN(Mutually Assured Non-Desctruction) not MAD?

PS - I just thought of the MAN thing, its probably been thought of before but I thought it was pretty GD appropriate.

That's what I was saying with the second bolded part. The best defence against nuclear arms is nuclear arms. And the best offence against a nation with nuclear arms is to develop protection from nuclear arms. I was trying to say that the missile shield is just as much an offensive move as securing nuclear weapons is a defensive one. If you were a nation that saw the weapon shield as a U.S. move to tip the balance of a nuclear stalemate, why wouldn't you seek to re-establish that stalemate to defend your nation?