The Three-Body Problem

... could rely on different means to deter China than it used against the U.S. (for example, about one-third of the Pioneer intermediate-range missile systems were deployed east of the Urals). Today, however, the U.S. faces the challenge of maintaining nuclear deterrence of one peer adversary and the other near-peer (with a trend toward narrowing the gap). Both are located at equal intercontinental distances, which makes it difficult to allocate forces to deter only one of them in a way that would not ...