US threatens cyber attack on Russia

Its the new nuclear threat. The US has come close to nuclear war perhaps half a dozen times including once when some general in command of a base decided it was best to just get it over with and send all the commies to hell. The US, Russia, and China have been hacking one another to death in recent years with the EU complaining the US is even taping their phone systems and giving their industrial secrets to US companies. The US is close, if they haven't done so already, to producing a quantum computer capable of cracking any encryption code on the planet and Putin is starting to feel like Saddam Hussein, that is, just another turkey about to be served at Thanks Giving dinner.

Quoting wuliheron

including once when some general in command of a base decided it was best to just get it over with and send all the commies to hell.

Fortunately Dr Strangelove was on the scene with a post-doomsday plan. The real-life general who wanted to get it over with was Douglas MacArthur. He was fired.

Reply to Mongrel War is hell and a cyber war would be hell too, though yes, fewer exploding shells and no mushroom-shaped clouds. But that should lead one to think that we will not notice the war in progress. I have no idea how vulnerable our infrastructure is -- I have read about it, but I don't know for a fact what the situation is. One should expect -

-disruption of electric power
-disruption of heavy duty control devices (pumps, valves, motors, etc.) in municipal power, water and sewage disposal systems
-disruption of financial services (like, the bank might shut down their computer systems, which would protect the system, but still might mean you couldn't access your cash)
-Market operations (from Wall Street to Walmart) would be disrupted
-Medical record systems, train operation, airports and air traffic control, etc. might be disrupted.
-Recreation drugs would probably become more readily available, and about the time everything shut down, a pleasant high might be exactly what you need.

We might just "run amok" rather than be blown up. We are very dependent on systems, needless to say, and recovering so many systems would be time-consuming and difficult, not to mention really, really expensive. Meanwhile, people would be decompensating all over the place.

Should you horde gold? Sure you should. Buy an ingot today. The problem will be determining what the value of gold is after CW #1 is over. Are you going to hand over 1/10th of an ounce for a 10 lb. bag of good potatoes? And if you can get 150 pounds for 1/10th of an ounce, will you be able to transport and store them so you and yours get to eat them? You pushing your big bag of potatoes through the streets full of hungry people... it won't end up well.

BRIGADIER GENERAL JACK D. RIPPER ON WAR AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNIST CONSPIRACY TO SAP AND IMPURIFY OUR PRECIOUS BODILY FLUIDS

Reply to Mongrel This year a guy in charge of a US nuclear missile silo was shot and killed by his counterpart for attempting to launch. Dr Strangelove and McArthur are merely the more prominent examples that are harder for corporations and governments to censor from the public.

Quoting Bitter Crank

We might just "run amok" rather than be blown up.

The libertarians would finally be happy?

Reply to Bitter Crank

That's a great movie. I suppose one could relate it to a contemporary situation in which soliders are immersed in hacking, living in more or less sealed environments, where delusions thrive and inspire crazy action.

Reply to jkop Yes, it does relate to all that. Of course, if it only related to the paranoia of lunatic generals, it would still be a good movie, but not as socially relevant and resonant. Take for instance, fluoridation of water. There are still some people who think it's some sort of plot, but when the movie was made anti-fluoridation people were far more numerous and far more active (fluoridation being one of those ways in which our precious bodily fluids are "depurified"). I suspect that the original anti-fluoridation people are still around, but now focused on something else--the Federal Reserve, the gold standard, or GMO foods. The anti-fluoridation people were essentially anti-government, anti-public health.

Anti-communism was also quite virulent in the late 1960s, and remained so for quite a while. The anti-communists are still around too, but have moved on to other threats -- Islam, jihadi terrorists, Mexicans, whatever (not that these things are without consequence).