You could make a very good argument that the atomic bomb created a much more stable post-WWII political atmosphere. How many people would have died in a US-USSR showdown?
It depends on what university you attend. For pure example, the computer science program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is within the College of Engineering, requiring 4 semesters of calculus, and the usual linear algebra and prob and stat courses.
There have been wars fought between nuclear powers without the use of nuclear weapons (read: Pakistan and India). Everyone knows the use of nuclear weapons is an immediate death sentence from the rest of the world.
To compare the war in Iraq in it's current form to hypothetical war against China is impossible. A war with China would play into the strengths of the US military, seeing as it would be a war the US has been building for since the Cold War days.
4. There's a difference between a bombing campaign and a ground invasion of given territory. All the high tech in the world doesn't count for much if you are fighting against an entrenched enemy on home turf. Witness how easily we smoked the standing Iraqi army in both Gulf wars versus the trouble we're facing trying to police cities filled with guerrillas.
The struggle we're looking at right now is over access to markets and resources. Granted, the future is always in flux but the prospects for a large-scale industrial war the likes of WWII are extremely remote. 4th generation guerrilla wars seem to be the likely scenario for as far into the future as we can reasonably gaze.
The Gulf War pitted the #1 US military, versus the then-ranked #4 Iraqi military, numbering some 1.2 million ground troops and nearly 6,000 tanks. We *did* fight a ground war against an 'entrenched' opponent. Better training and vastly superior weaponry were the differences.
As much as some people would like to compare China and the US in terms of military might, the reality is that the difference between those two powers is much greater than the difference between the US and Iraq pre-Gulf War.
Slashdot Mirror
Seeing as how the Cold War passed and entered us into an age of disarmament, I'd say I'd choose 'discomfort' over a massive war.
You could make a very good argument that the atomic bomb created a much more stable post-WWII political atmosphere. How many people would have died in a US-USSR showdown?
It depends on what university you attend. For pure example, the computer science program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is within the College of Engineering, requiring 4 semesters of calculus, and the usual linear algebra and prob and stat courses.
There have been wars fought between nuclear powers without the use of nuclear weapons (read: Pakistan and India). Everyone knows the use of nuclear weapons is an immediate death sentence from the rest of the world.
To compare the war in Iraq in it's current form to hypothetical war against China is impossible. A war with China would play into the strengths of the US military, seeing as it would be a war the US has been building for since the Cold War days.
4. There's a difference between a bombing campaign and a ground invasion of given territory. All the high tech in the world doesn't count for much if you are fighting against an entrenched enemy on home turf. Witness how easily we smoked the standing Iraqi army in both Gulf wars versus the trouble we're facing trying to police cities filled with guerrillas.
The struggle we're looking at right now is over access to markets and resources. Granted, the future is always in flux but the prospects for a large-scale industrial war the likes of WWII are extremely remote. 4th generation guerrilla wars seem to be the likely scenario for as far into the future as we can reasonably gaze.
The Gulf War pitted the #1 US military, versus the then-ranked #4 Iraqi military, numbering some 1.2 million ground troops and nearly 6,000 tanks. We *did* fight a ground war against an 'entrenched' opponent. Better training and vastly superior weaponry were the differences. As much as some people would like to compare China and the US in terms of military might, the reality is that the difference between those two powers is much greater than the difference between the US and Iraq pre-Gulf War.
I think you should watch The Big Lebowski (otherwise known as TBL) to understand the reference.