Tomorrow Never Dies/Headscratchers

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• Does NATO not exist in the James Bond universe? In real life, if a British battleship were sunk by the Chinese, the United States would be obligated to come to its ally's aid. This makes Jack Wade's comment about how "Uncle Sam is officially neutral" a huge wall banger. It's not 1940 anymore!
  • It would have made the threat of nuclear war much greater, but I suspect it was just to appeal to some nationalist British sentiment. Wasn't it referred to as a "global power" in the film?
  • It was a destroyer, not a battleship. The US is probably hoping the two will stop short of war.
  • The NATO Treaty only covers attacks in Europe or North America though, China would be outside it's scope just as the Falklands were

• Britain and China are grossly disproportionate in every way--noted by M, who for example doesn't want the Navy in range of the "largest Air Force in the world"--except for the fact that both have nuclear weapons. If it came to war, Britain could call upon America and other allies to bring about World War 3. Either that or both sides would write off the event rather than escalate tensions given the alternative is Armageddon.
  • Except for the fact that Jack Wade said, officially, America is neutral in the growing conflict. And unofficially, they have no interest in seeing World War III unless they start it.
  • Writing off the event is the villains' plan. Remember, he intends to use the Stealth Boat to bomb a meeting of the Chinese Politboro, or whatever its called, so that General Chang becomes the de facto leader of China. Chang sues for peace, Britain accepts because the faked attack makes them look like a worldwide Heel, and Carver gets his broadcast rights under the table.
  • The use, or even the threat of use, of nuclear weapons in a conflict is now considered a Crime Against Humanity. Nukes are really for show, or as a last resort. The fact is that two nuclear powers going to war does not mean that said war will be nuclear; the only reason it was ever an issue was due to the United States and Russia having a policy of Mutually Assured Destruction (in the event of war, both sides would immediately resort to nukes, thus war was a very, very bad idea), and that was abandoned under Ronald Reagan of all people (the feeling being, the fact that war would be insane just wasn't safe enough). Nukes were not brought up because, the simple fact is, in Real Life they wouldn't be.

• He went through all that just to secure broadcast rights? Surely some bribery would have been easier.
  • The implication is that he tried, but failed to achieve the necessary penetration of the Politburo.
  • He also gets a massive story with which to launch his network. IIRC he admits as much.