It is also worth bearing in mind that the Russians are an intensely pragmatic people. They are not deterred by notions of "unthinkability" when it comes to considering how to conduct nuclear warfare. They do think about it. And they have arrived at a doctrinal notion of how to attain a discernible victory in such warfare. They have taken measures to prepare civil defense infrastructure to protect and preserve populations at risk. They know that these ideas of "a radioactive wasteland, uninhabitable for generations" is complete nonsense. (Witness the rapid renewal of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.) The West, however, delights in defeating itself morally with the doctrine of "we would all be better off dead," instead of an intellectually honest program of civil and strategic defense. So much easier to concede defeat at the outset. Then we don't have any hard work ahead of us. Such flaccid defeatism is contemptible.