Nuclear Midnight and the Reasons We Got Here

So I do not become one that highjacks a comment thread, I post my thoughts on Jeff Goldsteins's article on Nuclear Midnight at Protein Wisdom here [not spell checked, my attention is wasting heavily ATM]:

Just from my personal reading the basic Soviet 'suitcase bomb' is about the size of a 50gal oil drum. There were never that good at miniaturization and had problems designing and maintaining such things.

On as to why containment will not work with Iran, I responded to Jerry Pournelle's open question on that a bit ago.

The one thing that we do *not* have is a serious discussion on what the overall Goals on the War on Terror should be. And we seem to have forgotten that the important part of fighting Transnational Terrorism is to de-link it from supporting Nation States, which is why Afghanistan and Iraq are both extremely important. It is not just the survival of the US, but the entire international system of Nation States being able to provide *anything* for their own people. By glossing this over, we put that long and hard built system up on the chopping block.

Transnational Terrorists seek to use the complacency of the mighty, modern Nation State against itself, by using the wedge of non-national activities escalated with violence. With no hard and fast State Actor to be held accountable, the use of Arms for protection and offense is diminished. This is the concept of asymmetrical warfare to leverage violence in small ways to large effects. Working hand-in-hand with Narcotics Traffickers and using the same resources, they gain advantages of surreptitious transport of goods and peoples, especially when National borders are porous. So as was said earlier in the thread, and I emphasize: the question of being attacked by Terrorists is not a question of *if?* but of *when?* and *how often?*. By not enforcing National Sovereignty at any point, the Nation State is left defenseless to stop such things. Europe has suffered this over decades and so has the US. Once the flows of unassimilated immigrants who do not wish to follow the Laws of the Land come into a Nation, the very respect the Nation has for self-determination is diminished and with it the very reason for its existing as a Sovereign entity. This was welcomed in by Transnational Progressives and now is used to crack the Nation State itself by Transnational Terrorists.

The founding of the US, however, was *not* that of a mighty Nation, but of weak and squabbling States that could barely defend themselves. The very foundation of the US is based upon asymmetrical warfare, and is specifically mentioned in the Constitution as a legitimate means of defending the Nation and attack Our enemies, under the oversight of Congress. This is the National Warrant to do things for the gain of Bounty or Reward. And that right has not been given up by the American People, although Congress by not looking at its powers abdicates them in defense of the People. Further, by allowing municipalities to move out from under the Constitution by no longer enforcing the Law of the Land, setting their own immigration policies, and trafficking in human labor, All Branches of the Federal Government abdicate the concept of National Sovereignty and the exercise of the powers given only to Them by We the People. Thusly, the very concept of the Nation State are no longer being defended by those given the power to do just that.

The WMD question is a symptom of the larger disease. The disease is the strange concept of a Nation State actually being good *for* anything except governing. As the cost and technology threshold for nuclear devices goes down, the asymmetrical attack characteristics of Transnational Terrorism goes up and the erosion of the Nation State increases as they do not address this issue. The UN was a pressure valve, of sorts, during the Cold War, but by becoming seen as a Super-Oversight Government, it eroded the concept of National Sovereignty quickly and corrosively after the end of the Cold War. Indeed, unaccountable international actors at that level *also* deteriorate the concept of the Nation State as legitimate actor for their own People above those of Others.

Defense and support of the Nation State *concept* for ALL Nations and holding each other accountable when there are conflicts between the self-interest of two or more Nations. That requires a basic re-orientation of Foreign Policy so that the US helps those that help it, give cool receptions to those that neither hurt nor help, and actively pursue and shut off relations and trade with those hostile to it. Free Trade for the world only ensures that Transnational Terrorists flourish on cheap goods and means to use and transport them, and gives no incentive for other Nations to seek self-improvement via internal production. That must end with the help of those Nations friendly to us. As Mexico has now staged hundreds of small scale incursions and offers nothing for doing so, it can no longer be a Free Trade partner and, in fact, is demonstrating some support for those that would hurt our National Sovereignty.

Needless to say, in the Zero Party System we live in, neither political party actually believes in the concept of the Nation State by their lack of activity to actually defend it. Both parties support the concept of large and inefficient government to feather their own nests at the expense of the general welfare, and in doing so are destroying the trust behind the compact between We the People.

As a Jacksonian I support finding and hitting the Federal RESET button hard. I am the Party of One. And in the Zero Party Systems we are now in, so is each and every individual in the United States ALSO a party of One. We have passed off the buck of responsibilities upwards and gotten little in return save insecurity and diminishment of our rights by Transnationalist concepts. I support the end of that.

WMDs falling into the hands of Transnational Terrorists is the symptom of the disease that decays the Nation State. Ameliorating the symptom in one place only assures that it pops up again elsewhere. Until the cure is no longer that of enforcing the concept of a self-determining People as a Nation via the means of Justice. And the only Just means that are left when the life of the People of the Nation are threatened is the Terrible Swift Sword of the Republic.

We can use it *not* to skillfully and carefully excise this disease and force it back and down. Or we can dither and then use it in its fully glory of liberation...

The liberation of the heart of a people burning, so that atoms are liberated from molecules and the light of a thousands suns shine in many places with a People seeking Vengeance.

Either that or let this experiment in liberty die under threat and tyrrany.