Russian self-propelled howitizer MSTA are seen during a rehearsal for the May 9 Victory Day parade at Ababino military polygon on April, 4, 2012 near Moscow. Sasha Mordovets / Getty Images
The first mention of these mega-weapons came in February, when Vladimir Putin, Russia's perennial leader, published an article as part of what would be a successful campaign to win a third term as President. In the near future, he wrote, military strength will rely on a country's prowess in space and cyber warfare, but further down the line, weapons will emerge based on "new physical principles," such as "lasers, geophysics, waves, genetic engineering, psycho-physics and etc." Not only will they be at least as deadly as Russia's nukes, Putin wrote, but they will be "more acceptable in a political and military sense." That is supposed to be part of their appeal: unlike biological and chemical weapons, which are banned under international law, these would be well within bounds.
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