

Deterrence for a first-strike nuclear attack - zimpenfish
http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2015/06/deterrance-for-first-strike-nuclear.html

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DanAndersen
This is a pretty silly deterrent in an actual nuclear standoff scenario.

If you have Nation A and Nation B, and Nation A chooses to implement this
"leader must personally kill to launch the nukes" plan, then what happens
if/when Nation B finds out about this? Nation B is able to more strongly bully
Nation A because the leader of Nation A is less willing to actually make the
call that would lead to a personal death.

In contrast, the "hostage" approach described in the linked-to article
([http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2012/09/19/the-heart-of-
deter...](http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2012/09/19/the-heart-of-deterrence/))
is better, and, as one of the commenters mentions, was something in use
historically:

>The fundemental logic of ‘family hostages’ is not that different from how
many of the monarchies achieved various alliances with other nations through
the use of marriage.

