Yes, I know about game theory. However, you're working with a flawed model, and I don't think you fully comprehend what "zero-sum" game entails. Kennedy and Kruschev were close to the Prisoner's Dilemma. How about we put it in real-world terms to make it obvious?

Teenage dude A and teenage dude B decide to play a game of chicken. They get in their cars, rev up, and race towards each other at maximum velocity. Now, what do you think is the most rational outcome?

Of course, there are several pairs of people each year who don't blink. We bury them and privately think they're retards. Because they are.

Except that our fine friend Kennedy and Kruschev weren't just playing with their own lives. They were playing with millions, and potentially billions, of lives. The most reasonable scenario is that neither engage in this game at all. Next is one blinks, takes a loss.

If neither blinks, trying for a win, the worst-case scenario occurs, and we probably all die.

Got that?