Seeing as how Woody Allen probably raped his daughter, I'm having second thoughts about it. Then again, Lady Liberty liv
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MOOVYZ — 11 years ago(July 15, 2014 12:31 PM)
A better question rather than "would you sacrifice NYC?" would be to ask if an American President would ever have the guts to do it.
We all know Bush was too much of an idiot to even think of the possibility. And Dick Cheney (if he had risen to Commander In Chief) would have been nasty enough to do it but would probably have opted to simply send the rest of our nukes.
So, does anyone think that the premise would ever be acted out?
"I think that boy's cheese slid off his cracker" The Green Mile -
RynoII — 11 years ago(March 25, 2015 07:40 PM)
Personally if I were President I could make the decision to do it. But only because I am able to own up to a mistake of nuking Moscow, and take responsibility for it. It is simply just taking responsibility and owing up to a mistake that most people are afraid of confronting?
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rogueforte — 10 years ago(June 03, 2015 02:37 PM)
I think not. For starters, the Soviets themselves contributed greatly to the debacle by jamming the radio signals to/from Group 6. If they hadn't been screwing around, then the whole thing would have been difused almost immediately. Then, the bonehead Soviet general in charge of defense who went after the wrong bomber instead of Grady's plane, even after being explicitly instructed by Bogan not to do so. These are a couple of points that any POTUS should be making with the premier once Group 6 became unstoppable.
But, more crucial than any of that stuff is that the idea of the Soviets releasing a retaliatory strike, for what was obviously a very bad series of accidental events, would not serve them any real purpose in the long run. The problem is the idea of 'mutually assured destruction' had not changed one iota, even with the bombing of Moscow. Both countries still had nearly all of their nukes still available. If the premier launched the retaliatory attack he claimed he was going to do, the US would then have no choice but to launch a similar, full-scale nuclear counter assault, which would surely inflict a whole lot more damage on the USSR than just the destruction of Moscow.
Not to mention that the Soviet infliction of major nuclear damage on large US cities would severely hamper any attempts of the US to help rebuild Moscow, which is what the current Soviet regime should really be concerned with (not the rather foolhardy goal of destroying the US because they whacked Moscow by mistake).
In effect, some of Groeteschele's hypotheses would actually be correct, just not for the reasons he cited. It would simply not be in the Soviet's best interest to wipe-out (or even do serious damage) to the wealthiest country on the planet, since that country is the one that could give them the most help.
This is likely the scenario that would play-out with any president from Kennedy to Obama, given the same situation, i.e., what to do if the US accidently nuked Moscow. The only possible exception would actually be Bush II who would be the most likely to blindly follow the wishes of Cheney who, ironically, seems to be an awful lot like Groeteschele, just without the emotion. Bush, by way of Cheney, is the guy who, once it became apparent that Grady was going to get through, would send everything else he had into the USSR with the theory that it would obliterate any chance they would have to retaliate. -
eab-8 — 10 years ago(January 30, 2016 12:37 PM)
I'm thinking in such a circumstance Groeteschele's plan of action - to launch a full-scale knockout strike - is the only logical solution. American society would collapse immediately once it was learned that its President had destroyed NYC over an error. He would be impeached and removed from office immediately, or worse, executed by the military. Chaos and anarchy would ensue. The government would collapse and a world war between the superpowers would likely be under way anyway. Nuking NYC would definitely not return things to the way they were. So what to do? Might as well roll the dice and finish the job the bomber wing started by accident.
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rogueforte — 10 years ago(February 05, 2016 10:27 PM)
As cold-hearted as it might seem, Groeteschele's plan does have merit. The only problem is the retaliatory strike that the Soviets would surely get off, even with a full-scale US attack. Groeteschele's proposal is a huge gamble they won't launch it (which I think was exactly how General Black addressed Groeteschele when he pitched it).
The whole focus of the decision the president (any president) would be is simple: what decision would keep the Soviets from launching an attack, yet keep anything from happening to any US territory in the process?
Frankly, I would think that the best decision might simply be to do nothing, and hope the Soviets wouldn't retaliate. Like I said, they certainly bear some responsibility (maybe more than the US) for Group 6 getting through. That, alone, should be enough to keep them from retaliating.
I'd say that the president could simply say that he'd do everything he could to help rebuild Moscow, at whatever cost, much like Nagasaki and Hiroshima were rebuilt.
When you get down to it, plenty of the Soviet population has perished at the hands of that government throughout history. Maybe not as many as the whole population of Moscow, but they've definitely shown that they consider human cheap. -
RichN36 — 9 years ago(July 16, 2016 11:25 PM)
The only problem I picked out tonight was the fact that in Nuking New York the President also Nuked all the Diplomat's in the U.N. wouldn't that tick off a bunch of other countries?
Col. G. Stonehill: Most people around here have heard of Rooster Cogburn. -
ObscureAuteur — 9 years ago(July 18, 2016 02:42 PM)
I have always considered the ending here to be a literary liberty. In real life, we would say oops with massive reparations, or destroy civilization for no good reason as in
On The Beach
.
The movie adaptation is extremely faithful to the book and remarkably complete in details and character development.
CB
Good Times, Noodle Salad