I think the discussion of the effect of MAD should also include consideration of the proposition that, although MAD inhibited open state-v-state warfare, it stimulated other kinds of warfare and that – possibly – those alternative weapons became the main firepower in a new strategy: to win without firing a shot.
As an example: I personally believe Spetznas moved Iraqi WMD into Syria or even Belarus – or a convenient river or Gulf. If this is the case, consider the amount of political damage inflicted on Bush, his supporters, his whole Gestalt – and, by extension, the USA.
Consider whether the mass capital flight which the chairman of the house sub-committee on capital markets told to C-SPAN is real, and whether it was engineered by state actors.
Consider the cyberpower apparently wielded by our enemies, and the apparently sudden acquisition of strategic rockets by our obnoxiously avowed enemies.
Consider the Chinese trade imbalance, manufacturing capability, and financing of our tremendous debt.
Consider Russia’s multiple recent demonstrations of European energy.
Consider the number of conflicts we are obliged to engage in, the spread of our forces, the suddenness of this and the timeframe and investment and national will required to repair this circumstance.
What if the Soviets and Chinese have been training to win a nuclear war for 60 years, sit atop and command hardened immiserated and indoctrinated populations ultimately controlled by what are in effect human zombies?
What if the Islamic groups are mere delivery systems – i.e., you put a gun in their hands, and they will shoot?
What if the enemy has built up so much force redundancy, and honeycombed so much intelligence personnel, and insinuated so much “knowledge” that is actually active measures – that the USA is ennervated to such an extent that it cannot even recognize it? Cannot even recognized that the USA is separated from its traditional ally Europe, that even within its own borders its natural and traditional “conservative” forces are isolated?
As Lenin and the Bolsheviks taught: the purpose is to politically isolate the regime, and cause the elite to react with defeatism even as they are under attack.
It is probably worth remembering that Lenin and the Bolsheviks’ were themselves the product of the Kaiser’s intelligence services – were actually the first, and therefore the precedent, for such warfare.
This is all to say: what if nuclear weapons are just a distraction, as in the Cuban Missile Crisis? What if they have *always* just been a distraction?
