READER TRENT TELENKO sends this somewhat more comforting take on Indian / Pakistani nuclear war from StrategyPage.Com. However, while I’m a big StrategyPage fan, this piece is rather sketchy. It says that most deaths would come from economic disruption rather than weapon effects, which is almost certainly true. It also says that economic collapse would bring an Indian/Pakistani war to a rapid halt, but doesn’t make clear just how that is to be. (Didn’t people say that before World War I, too?) Here’s the most interesting part, though:

So it is likely that the United States will put great pressure on India not to attack Pakistan until we’ve conquered Iraq. India is not dependent on the US for anything so our major influence comes from incentives, not punitive disincentives. There is one coin which can truly buy India’s short-term inaction – promised American support for India’s later conquest of Pakistan. Such conquest would permanently protect India from Pakistan’s growing nuclear arsenal, and from Pakistani state-supported terrorism.

I wonder what promises are being made.