“The experience of past wars shows that the first use of a new technical or tactical method of attack is usually highly effective even if a simple antidote can soon be developed.”

— Andrei Sakharov

Progress, Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom (1968), Dangers, The Threat of Nuclear War
Context: The experience of past wars shows that the first use of a new technical or tactical method of attack is usually highly effective even if a simple antidote can soon be developed. But in a thermonuclear war the first blow may be the decisive one and render null and void years of work and billions spent on creation of an anti-missile system.

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Andrei Sakharov57

Soviet nuclear physicist and human rights activist 1921–1989

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