The less time the US/NATO/West, aka The Empire, gives the Russians to sort out whether they are under attack the higher the risk is for the destruction of the human species. Do The Empire groupthink militarists seriously believe that they can destroy Russian missiles before the Russians can launch? Even if 100% of Russia's missiles are not destroyed, a typical mushroom cloud like this one--https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba--if it were detonated over Cincinnati, Ohio, could be seen in Des Moines, Iowa, and New York City, basically in two time zones at the same time. All life forms at ground zero would become dust and shadows.
Now imagine that of the 1600 deployed aircraft bombs (http://thebulletin.org/2014/march/russian-nuclear-forces-2014), 99% were destroyed, leaving 16 Satan bombs to manage to hit various population centers of the Great Satan, I believe that every part of the US would be witness to our own destruction but not for more than 30 seconds.
Now imagine that the Russians begin to deploy the estimated 6200 warheads that they have in storage because The Empire's leadership, which is composed of apparently bat-crazy loons, are hell bent on tempting fate by adding destabilizing missile systems at Russia's doorstep.
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