Public Comment

The U.S. And Other Countries Are Not Equipped For A Major War Between "Superpowers"

Jack Bragen
Thursday January 17, 2019 - 02:57:00 PM

American citizens do not have a mentality that remotely resembles what our ancestors must have had before we entered WWII. People are concerned with football games and whether the remote control needs batteries. People are concerned with how well their stock portfolios are doing. People want to see the latest action-adventure flick or go out to eat at a nice restaurant downtown. We aren’t prepared to have bombs dropped on us, conventional or otherwise. 

In WWII, the U.S. had a geographical factor working for it. On the left, we had the Pacific Ocean, and on the right, the Atlantic. Hawaii was bombed in Pearl Harbor. However, because air and sea travel were primitive, and long-range missiles didn't exist, the mainland U.S. was not very easy to bomb or invade. With modern technology, it isn't a problem for any developed country to hit us with any number of objects, including aircraft, missiles, other objects, or also, individuals on foot carrying WMD's, who could get in at the Florida Keys, at the southern or northern borders, by boat, or by commercial air travel. 

During WWII, the U.S. was not hooked on imported goods and services. A foreign car was unusual. We produced and packaged our own food. We build our own home appliances. We supplied ourselves with petroleum. 

Today, the U.S. relies heavily on imports of all kinds. We also borrow a great deal of money from China, to keep the U.S. Government going, even though we are often in military confrontations with them. If we completely halted trade with them, numerous essential items would be unavailable to consumers. We rely heavily on foreign oil. A lot of this oil is from Canada, some is from Mexico, and some from the Middle East. If we could not get any oil from the Middle East, comparable to the Oil Embargo of the 1970's, we would need to ration gasoline. 

In the U.S., we are taking care of numerous disabled veterans, and this is the only correct thing to do. Following WWII, as conveyed in war movies, there were people who came back with missing limbs, and/or post-traumatic stress. If the U.S. went to war against a major power, we would be flooded with massive numbers of women and men with permanent physical and mental disabilities. 

If the U.S. were to go to war against a substantial enemy, it would be difficult to prevent it from escalating to a nuclear confrontation. The American people aren’t remotely prepared to deal with having atomic bombs dropped on us. This is assuming that only a few of these weapons detonated in the U.S. and this assumption is a stretch. A full-scale nuclear confrontation against a superpower would be likely to end all life on Earth, with the exception, perhaps, of some insect life. The radiation would probably kill most of the bacteria that would be responsible for the decay of all of the dead bodies. 

Governments of other countries mistakenly believe that they are more prepared than the U.S. for a major war. The citizens in China are more likely to do what their government tells them to do. They doubtless aren't accustomed to the same level of comfort as Americans. China mistakenly may believe they would fare better than the U.S. if they were in a major war against the U.S. The situation in Russia is probably similar. In Russia, the underground subway system purportedly doubles as a fallout shelter. 

Governments of any country are delusional if they believe a major war on our planet is survivable. If people did survive, life would not remotely resemble what we have now.