In the movie dr. strangelove, crazed u.s. general jack ripper orders his b-52 bomber wing to launch a preemptive nuclear attack on the soviet union. general ripper believes the payoffs for a u.s. first strike to be as follow:

Dr. Strangelove a. Prior to the building of the Doomsday machine, would a soviet threat retaliate to be credible? The Soviet threat to retaliate would be viable due to their global interests. The proposed Doomsday machine threatens the existence and the superiority of the Soviet Union and, therefore they could not take chances in the US military superiority. In addition, the Soviet Union had credible information that the US plans to target its military infrastructures.
b. How does the construction of Doomsday machine change this?
Construction of Doomsday machine gave confidence to the USSR premier that a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union could not mean a defeat of the union. The planned Doomsday device made from “ Cobalt Thorium G” would come as a surprise to the US who considered the Soviet army only capable of executing light military targets (Pepall, and Richards 69). Thus, the construction of the machine contributes to the country’s decision to launch an assault on the Soviet military targets. In addition, construction of the device made the US to reconsider their decision to take and execute military targets on the USSR soil.
c. What purpose did keeping the construction of the Doomsday machine secrete serve?
The construction of the Doomsday machine remained a secrete affair for the USSR. Arguably, the Soviets were cautious about the outcomes of exposing the progress of the construction to their rivals. It is evident that the US feared that soviet scientists were capable of constructing their own version of the Doomsday machine. Sadeski acknowledged they had plans to disclose its existence the following week, as a surprise for the soviet premier. He also states that following the activation of the Doomsday machine, the earth would be inhabitable. This was intended to be the final blow to the US. Dr. Strangelove advised the president to make an order requiring several hundreds of thousands of people, to reside in deep mineshafts in order to survive the resultant radiation. He also warns that if the soviet learn about the Doomsday program they are likely to take similar measures in order to save their citizens.
d. In the movie, the soviet ambassador announced the existence of the Doomsday machine only after the attack on the Soviet Union was in progress. Did this serve any strategic purpose? Why?
A commitment only has strategic value if it is announced, understood, and implemented within the correct period (Hirschey, 105). The announcement of Doomsday machine was timely since the USSR government could only understand the impacts of the machine after experiencing it. In addition, the ability of the machine to make the Soviet Union irrecoverable has a strategic value that the ambassador was trying to explain. The action was intended to prevent soviet enemies such as the US from planning or contemplating any surprise attacks on the Soviet Union. He also reckons that the Doomsday machine has an automatic control system that cannot be reversed by humans. Thus, his report had not been overtaken by the US actions over the Soviet Union.
Bibliography
Hirschey, Mark. Fundamentals of Managerial Economics 9th Ed. California: University of California Press, 2009.
Pepall, Lynne and Richards Daniel. Contemporary Industrial Organization: A Quantitative Approach. New York: Wiley and Sons, 2007.