Good News for Novelists

Another arms race. Another Cold War. We can but hope.
If this story is vaguely reliable, then an assymetrcal counterbalance may be in the offing.

And the thing is, it doesn't even matter if this official's statement is true, or even if this official exists -- it's the possibility of MAD that's the important thing. Not only that, but this time we get the benefit of a Russian programme not suffering from post-WW2 Stalinist "we'll do anything rather than allow Mother Russia to be invaded again" syndrome. In fact, even if that little psychological peccadillo was still (as it seems not to be) in operation, the US's probable lack of interest in a Russian land invasion would render the point moot.