Nuclear weapons the money pit
I live in the US so I know as a tax payer what it cost for ICBM and all the other non conventional toys one could have. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no tree hugger or have anything agenst having them. Once a country has gone down that path it’s real hard to justify reversing the decision and throwing away a trillion dollars or so. Well with the exception of South Africa.
In today’s world what does nuclear weapons truly give a country, this is were the fun starts
1 Political gain, perhaps with in those countries borders but on the world stage I think not. If countries or there leaders didn’t listen before there still not going to hear you now. Depending on how you acquired them others may not listen at all.
2 Projection of power, (Military) I will have to say no on this one also. To project power you would have to use them. Any country that uses them in aggression has just destroyed it self (Yes that includes the US and Russia) … Even if the doomed country is the aggressor with conventional weapons, and if said country has no nuclear capability that’s even worse. First strike is almost impossible to justify.
3 Defense will nuclear weapons alone keep other country from imposing there will on your country or invading your borders. Not really. If your country depends on shipping or any type of cross border trade with out a strong military and or navy there is no way to protect you interests. As far as deterrence from others with nuclear weapons, a country willing to use them first is not going to care who has them so all you could do is retaliate.
There for as deterrence it would have failed.
So what are your thoughts???
I live in the US so I know as a tax payer what it cost for ICBM and all the other non conventional toys one could have. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no tree hugger or have anything agenst having them. Once a country has gone down that path it’s real hard to justify reversing the decision and throwing away a trillion dollars or so. Well with the exception of South Africa.
In today’s world what does nuclear weapons truly give a country, this is were the fun starts
1 Political gain, perhaps with in those countries borders but on the world stage I think not. If countries or there leaders didn’t listen before there still not going to hear you now. Depending on how you acquired them others may not listen at all.
2 Projection of power, (Military) I will have to say no on this one also. To project power you would have to use them. Any country that uses them in aggression has just destroyed it self (Yes that includes the US and Russia) … Even if the doomed country is the aggressor with conventional weapons, and if said country has no nuclear capability that’s even worse. First strike is almost impossible to justify.
3 Defense will nuclear weapons alone keep other country from imposing there will on your country or invading your borders. Not really. If your country depends on shipping or any type of cross border trade with out a strong military and or navy there is no way to protect you interests. As far as deterrence from others with nuclear weapons, a country willing to use them first is not going to care who has them so all you could do is retaliate.
There for as deterrence it would have failed.
So what are your thoughts???