Russia plans to wipe out the USA with new generation neucs

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

It's not really such a novel idea. During the Cold War the Soviets did seriously consider creating a tsunami by exploding a massive nuclear device, similar to Tsar Bomba, at the bottom of the ocean floor. Some people, like Sakharov, supported it as a way of deterrence: plant the bomb and inform the U.S. it can be detonated at will.

All of this is interesting and what not, but Russia can already send America back to the stone age and has been able to for generations. We can do the same. Even China can, and some Western European countries too. The only difference here is the method and creativity involved.

And even if they nuked Yellowstone and even if that did trigger some 2012-style cataclysmic eruption, we'd still have a ton of 2nd-strike options that would allow us to retaliate and turn all regions of Russia with civilization into ash.

Wouldn't detonating a couple of warheads at a very high altitude do the trick by creating a massive EMP, essentially knocking civilian power grid out (which would inevitably cause the utter collapse of economic and social fabric)? Of course since crucial military installations necessary to launch a counterstrike are protected against the EMP. Even if you somehow managed to destroy or disable land based nuclear forces, you still have the subs out.

So yes, the basic concept of a Mutual Assured Destruction remains the same.  

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Yesss! High-altitude EMPs are just another way we can destroy ourselves, except that way is even more sadistic because we'll basically tear ourselves apart as modern society cannot survive without electricity. Too many people, most of whom have no idea what to do without utilities. I think it is debatable whether a technologically advanced country could recover from that if it went on for long enough. It doesn't matter if the military is partially protected, because they would still need to be deployed in massive numbers to try to maintain order stateside.

At that point all you're doing is damage control, or maybe retaliating with nukes in which it's game over for sure.

Interestingly the most serious post-Cold War nuclear close call essentially revolved around the fear of limited high-altitude nuclear strike designed to disable your defences:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_rocket_incident

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I remember there was a Cold War-era British study which determined that relatively few well-placed nuclear strikes could render the entire country ineffective. Of course the UK is especially unbearable given its' small size and concentration of population and industry, but a larger attack would probably do the trick, especially if you were specifically thinking about the EMP effect. Even if the societal fabric didn't collapse, the damage would be so severe it would take decades to recover. Also, the history is full of examples of sudden breakdowns, so thinking of the U.S. as somewhat special in this regard is funny.

I'd also like to caution against the assumption of present U.S. allies rushing immediatelly to your aid. We don't know what the international situation look at that point, what they problems would be (maybe they also just experienced a similar attack), etc. Also, some current "friends" could become less friendly once the U.S. loses its' big stick (even without a total breakdown, the country would simply be too occupied with the damage).

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Meanwhile, they can't get their fancy new tank to finish a parade.

Good point. The entire industrial complex of Russia is overwhelmed with problems that are getting more serious every year.

The most hillarious aspect is that they now have problems obtaining even some really essential spare parts for their current arsenal, because they didn't bother to manufacture them ourselves. Why bother? They got oil and gas and could simply buy stuff abroad... then the sanctions came and oil prices dropped.