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U.S. Prepares to Get Nuked

Posted by michael on from the manhattan-property-values-drop-precipitously dept.

There's an important story in the NYT about new efforts from the U.S. national laboratories to retain and improve their ability to identify nuclear fallout. In a nutshell, any fissionable materials turned into a nuclear weapon will be composed of a specific ratio of various radionuclides, which form a sort of signature, which can be used to identify the source of the fissionable material. The problem is, naturally, that you're probably doing this after the detonation.

3 of 606 comments (clear)

  1. www.kio3.com by intertwingled · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    www.kio3.com

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  2. Re:Can't we just... by Shakrai · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    According to something I read by the Libertarian Party ~1 year ago, at least some evidence released by the FOIA indicates that it wasn't so much a sneak attack, as that Roosevelt deliberately pushed Japan into it, with economic sanctions ("We are at war with Japan; we now need to convince them to fire the first shot"), and was aware of when and where the attack would come.

    I don't buy that. FDR wanted a war with Germany, not with Japan. It was likely his hope all along to bully them into submission. He couldn't allow them to conquer Southeast Asia (witness the security assurances we gave the Europeans -- we would defend thier colional holdings in Asia) but he didn't want to fight a war with them either.

    That it went to a war was a lot of cultural misunderstandings on both sides. FDR's administration couldn't understand the Japanese concept of honor and saving face and the Japanese didn't understand how we would react to a sneak attack.

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  3. Re:OK - Spend it! by Imperator · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Interesting... I would have thought the US would pressure France not to engage in joint exercises with China. (Not trying to blame the US here; France is clearly at fault for cooperating with the Chinese in intimidating Taiwan.)

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    Gates' Law: Every 18 months, the speed of software halves.