You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly. You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
alternatehistory.com
"Deterrence is inherently a barely believable bluff. Even at the height of the Cold War, when highly resolute presidents, such as Eisenhower and Kennedy, threatened Russia with “massive retaliation” (i.e., all-out nuclear war), would we really have sacrificed New York for Berlin?
"No one knew for sure. Not Eisenhower, not Kennedy, not the Soviets, not anyone. Yet that very uncertainty was enough to stay the hand of any aggressor and keep the peace of the world for 70 years..."
OK, then--*would* "we" (i.e., Ike or JFK) "really have sacrificed New York for Berlin" if it came to that?
(Yes, this is the context of a criticism of Trump on article 5 but *please*don't focus on that--it belongs in Chat. The point is that in making that criticism Krauthammer *incidentally* raised a good what-if on the 1950's and 1960's, and it's that "what-if" which concerns me here.)