Anne Applebaum argues that though most people don’t worry about threat of nuclear war anymore, Russia’s nuclear weapons are the reason the West isn’t even able to sell Ukraine defensive weapons.
There is no need to resurrect the Cold War, but the resurrection of the word deterrence might not be such a bad idea, if only to make the madmen think twice before they carry out nuclear exercises or secretly enrich some plutonium. Ninety-nine percent of nuclear strategy is a stupid psychological game, which no one plays with enthusiasm. But if you refuse to play it at all, then you lose.
(I actually think there’s a possible world in which a country is an important and significant military force despite having no nuclear weapons, but since this doesn’t apply to the actual world, this is a difficult theory to test.)
“I was born Lew Alcindor. Now I’m Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.”
“The torments of Ronnie O’Sullivan, snooker’s greatest player.”