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Originally Posted by Legbreaker
As in a few hundred people. The facility itself is important, but not exactly large. A few well placed explosives detonated at a critical time may well be enough.
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Delivered how? Aircraft, surface ships, and submarines approaching Australia's coastline are far more vulnerable to interception than a ballistic missile. A ballistic missile is quick, easy, and painless--at least from the Soviet point of view. Commandos, on the other hand, are valuable assets.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Legbreaker
Afraid? Of course not. But bringing in yet another country on the enemy side is never a good thing, especially when that country is not within easy striking distance and possesses a signifiant resource base to exploit.
During WWII, Australia's military grew larger than the population could support, even with rationing, etc. At the height of the war, contrary to all other combatant nations, Australia actually REDUCED their military so it would have enough manpower to feed the nation, etc.
I can't recall any other country in history ever having so many people voluntarily carrying arms full time that they couldn't feed themselves....
That fact alone is going to give pause to anyone planning an attack against Australia (though probably won't stop them by itself).
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That's exactly what strategic surgical strike is supposed to prevent. Why hope that a member of an alliance with the United States will sit on the sidelines ad infinitum when a handful of already paid-for ICBM and their warheads can take the guesswork and diplomacy out of the equation?[/QUOTE]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Legbreaker
No, I'm simply questioning the need to use a nuke when other more efficent options (such as a Spetnaz type unit) may be available. Unlike a nuke, a team on the ground can be reused time and time again (provided they're not caught of course).
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It's true that the Spetznaz offer a superior degree of precision. You don't knock nations out of war with commando raids, though. You knock nations out of a war by destroying their production facilities, their military facilities, and their power generation. The Soviets built a truly gratuitous armory of nuclear warheads (in a variety of sizes and colors) and missiles (in a variety of ranges and carrying capacities) so that they would have the option of attacking hard-to-reach targets at long range. (The US also assembled a gratuitous armory for exactly the same purpose.)
The very existence of a fully functional Australia furthers the aims of the Western powers. This is the way the Soviets will see it, at any rate. If Australia has sat on the sidelines until 1997 (an idea I question, but I'm not familiar with any canon material on Australia), then her military and industrial capabilities represents a very useful strategic reserve for ANZUS and, in effect, the Western Allies. The Soviets have no good reason to leave Australia unscathed and plenty of good reasons to ensure that a member of the Western Alliance is not in a position to cause mischief in the Pacific.
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