MMM... MINIMAL CREDIBLE DETERRENT. Via Defense News (subscription required), India just carried out the first successful test of an intermediate range ballistic missile capable of hitting Shanghai and Beijing. It'll be some time, of course, before India really does achieve minimal credible deterrence against China, as it will need enough missiles (and enough nuclear weapons) to plausibly have a sufficient fraction survive a hypothetical Chinese first strike. Still, since there doesn't appear to be anything to stop an Indian nuclear buildup (certainly not U.S. policy), we're likely going to see a slow, steady move in that direction. Who knows; maybe in ten years China will be building its own missile defense shield...
--Robert Farley
