With neoconservatism approaching its intellectual (but not political: neocons monopolized US Government offices dealing with national security, schools of diplomacy and political science) dustbin, Fred Kaplan--seriously, I spent a fair amount of time to distinguish him from Robert Kaplan, Fred and Robert Kagan--reissued his 2002 book, which he carried to the Age of Trump. Remarkably, except reliance on questionable media sources, this book demonstrates a partial return to sanity in some corners of American commentariat. Namely, a nuclear posture with tens of thousands of nuclear weapons on a hair-trigger alert was a consequence of the Cold War and resulting paranoia and self-inflicted errors of judgment. Yet, China demonstrated a significant restraint in building up its strategic nuclear arsenal, being content with a few tens of nuclear tipped missiles and not very high level of their readiness. This posture defended the Chinese from both USA and USSR--in both countries hotheads contemplated a nuclear attack once in a while. Will the Chinese who are now faced with quickly upgrading US ABM system feel sorry now? The question goes unanswered.
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