The Gipper's Dream

"Some day President Reagan, some day. But today we have a nut in charge of the Russian Federation, and very weak and impaired President in charge of the United States. Good luck to us all."      

About 40 years ago, we and Russia were knee deep in the first Cold War. Both sides were bristling with nuclear weapons. Were we close to a nuclear war? Maybe, but not as close as we are right now. America had a defense industry which was booming in the 1980's. We were game for anything which could keep the Russian Bear at bay. The three weapon systems we were the most excited about, were the cruise missile, the Pershing II intermediate range missile (I worked on that one), and the very mysterious Star Wars.

Of those three items, President Reagan was the most excited about Star Wars. Even though it was more "hat than cattle" (it did not exist), it scared the jeepers out of the Russians. And even though is was make believe, Ronald Reagan believed in it. He wanted nuclear war to be unwinnable, simply because it would be impossible to deliver a missile launched nuke.

Here we are in 2023, and missile launched nukes are still for the most part, unstoppable. If it had worked, we could tell Putin to sit down and shut up. The War in Ukraine would look quite a bit different. The only threat that Putin has right now, is his finger on the button. His military? Again, "more hat than cattle". His once revered military, could not even handle Ukraine's mostly volunteer military. If NATO was involved in the ground fighting, we could have mopped up what is left of the Russian Army. 

One day, Star Wars will work. Probably sooner than later. Too bad it is not now, as Russia has opted out of the Start Treaty with the United States. This will allow Russia to modernize and expand its nuclear forces. Like China is doing right now. Should we be doing it also? Might be a good idea, as some of our nukes are very long in the tooth. Like, some are wondering if they even still work. So modernizing might not be a bad idea. And why is that? Until we do have a Star Wars, MAD (mutually assured destruction) is the only deterrent we have.

As an aside, Russia was also afraid of our Pershing II missile. We let it leak out so the Russians could understand it, that our Pershing II missile was a real game changer. The story went we could see through our satellites, when Brezhnev went to the bathroom in the morning. We could launch a Pershing II missile at Moscow, and in 8 minutes, put that missile right in Brezhnev's bathroom window before he could pull up his pants. Russia had nothing to counter that, nor defend against it. Was that a true story? Maybe.

Some day President Reagan, some day. But today we have a nut in charge of the Russian Federation, and very weak and impaired President in charge of the United States. Good luck to us all.