Looking for ways to ease my mind about signs that the danger of nuclear war
is increasing, I stumbled across one comforting thought: Maybe the Russian
missiles won't work ...
Why didn't I think of this years ago? I have certainly read enough about
the shoddiness of goods produced by Soviet industry--overcoats whose
sleeves fall off now and then, television sets permanently tuned to the
all-snow channel, refrigerators destined to become the only thing in a
Moscow apartment that is never cold. I have read about those Russian
tractor factories where vodka-sodden workers fulfill their monthly quota in
a frantic last-minute push that can succeed only if they attach the
transmission with Scotch tape. Why have I always taken it for granted that
those goofballs would be so good at annihilating continents?
-- Calvin Trillin
