I agree with D'van. However, I don't see that happening anytime soon. All that oil.

BB: I am very much left of center on most issues. Certainly, you and I have butted heads on various political threads (chuckling here to myself), but this particular conundrum has puzzled people for ages. I do know from fighting that if a person tells me he's going to hit me, I strike the guy immediately, as hard and fast as I can. (I am too old for prolonged fights, and I tend to take people at their word.) My view is this: I see no reason to doubt my opponent. I should point out that I have been in one semi-serious altercation in about two decades. I was a third party who wanted to prevent a fellow older than me from being pummelled by a fellow who was both younger and bigger. The situation achieved a satisfactory resolution (from my point of view).

People are afraid of nuclear weapons, justifiably. However, they really are just BIG bombs. The place I would disagree with you is where you say MAD only works if both sides are sane. If I were one of the sides, I would do my best to convince my opponent that

1) I am crazy enough to match him 20 to 1 and

2) I will be spending lots of time paying attention to every single breath he takes.

IMO, MAD is not about bluff: it is about "this is what will happen if you launch", and there isn't all that much you can do about it.

Smile, because you're now on Candid Camera.