Originally Posted by
Just This Once...
Perhaps Mother Russia thinks that a sunk carrier in an open-ocean conflict miles away from US shores is unlikely to lead to an all-out attack on its homeland precisely because of MAD. Risky I know but would the US choose to destroy itself for ~10k military casualties?
America has shown itself, repeatedly, to respond quite violently when attacked. Destroying an American fleet (not one ship mind you, but a whole freaking fleet) would
demand a massive retaliation - and if the attack had been nuclear there is little doubt they'd respond in-kind. Sure, it would start with military targets. But do you really think it would end there? The predictable escalation would pretty much destroy Russia, the USA, and most of the rest of the world.
The danger has always been that during a conventional weapon conflict, someone would - either accidentally or intentionally - use a nuke. Once the gloves were off and nukes were in play, all hell would break loose. God forbid - as some recent reports from Mother Russia have suggested - they are thinking of starting off with nukes.
Basically you're talking Russian Roulette with no empty chambers. Pray that nobody in command is that stupid...