This is more about words than it is about nuclear war.
But it’s trivia that has been lodged in my brain for years.
Herman Kahn
Herman Kahn was a well-known military strategist who published On Thermonuclear War in 1960. Kahn, considered a major spear-rattler in the Cold War, was parodied by Walter Matteau in Fail-Safe.
A.Q. Khan
Then we’ve got Abdul Qadeer Khan, or A.Q. Khan, the insidious founder of Pakistan’s nuclear program.
Kahn and Khan. Two men, same jobs, names differing only by the placement of one letter. Not only that, but the two Khan/Kahns couldn’t be further in terms of ethnic and religious heritage, Khan being Muslim and Kahn being Jewish.
