Well, it does look likely (not guaranteed—just 50% likely) that the primary target for the strike would be The Enemy (China-USA-Russia-EU-India-whoever). From what is publically known, the prepared plans from 20th century referred to first-strike/revenge dynamics...
Risking extinction on the Earth could be done just to slightly improve your chances not to be enslaved in the fallout or at least not to let The Enemy get away less destroyed than you. It means that you spend all that you can on your selected targets.
Africa would (except South Africa, maybe) would be collateral damage; striking Mars would be expending a lot of resources on bystanders.
If Mars has some interplanetary weapons, it can 1) credibly claim neutrality (we don’t even trade with any side—not that we could hide that...) and 2) try to destroy strike from Earth mid-transit (Mars has months to prepare interceptors, and doing counter-interception maneouvres during interplanetary flight is very expensive).
Well, it does look likely (not guaranteed—just 50% likely) that the primary target for the strike would be The Enemy (China-USA-Russia-EU-India-whoever). From what is publically known, the prepared plans from 20th century referred to first-strike/revenge dynamics...
Risking extinction on the Earth could be done just to slightly improve your chances not to be enslaved in the fallout or at least not to let The Enemy get away less destroyed than you. It means that you spend all that you can on your selected targets.
Africa would (except South Africa, maybe) would be collateral damage; striking Mars would be expending a lot of resources on bystanders.
If Mars has some interplanetary weapons, it can 1) credibly claim neutrality (we don’t even trade with any side—not that we could hide that...) and 2) try to destroy strike from Earth mid-transit (Mars has months to prepare interceptors, and doing counter-interception maneouvres during interplanetary flight is very expensive).