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As speculation mounts that Kim Jong-un and Trump could meet this month, analysts say Pyongyang will continue to see nuclear weapons as a matter of survival
North Korea’s launch last week of a missile from a naval destroyer elicited an uncharacteristically prosaic analysis from the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un. The launch was proof, he said, that arming ships with nuclear weapons was “making satisfactory progress”.
But the test, and Kim’s mildly upbeat appraisal, were designed to reverberate well beyond the deck of the 5,000-tonne destroyer-class vessel the Choe Hyon – the biggest warship in the North Korean fleet.
His pointed reference to nuclear weapons was made as the US and Israel continued their air bombardment of Iran – a regime Donald Trump had warned, without offering evidence, was only weeks away from having a nuclear weapon.
Realism is more nukes = more chances for an all out nuclear war that wipes out 80% of humanity. Probably more like the 99% that don’t own bunkers
Realism as a framework for studying International Relations models states as rational actors in a global system without rules.
Under that framework, more nukes should mean less war because the risk of MAD raises the potential cost of aggression past the primary objective of the state: self-preservation. A rational actor won’t start a war that might see the enemy pressed to the point where they decide that the risk of using nukes is acceptable.
Of course, that framework fails to account for irrational behaviour. The problem isn’t (strictly) nukes, but unchecked megalomaniacs and growing nationalist hatred.
Yes, more nukes means that a potential devastation might be much worse, but if you wonder what less nukes means, ask Ukraine how that turned out for them.
It’s the mentality of “the other guy bad” we need to tackle. That’s the fuel that feeds populist warmongers and the glue that sustains fascism.
I agree fully. I wish we could go back to 2022 and give Ukraine the full support of the US military and honored our treaty. Wish they got let into NATO. Hate that we gotta talk about nukes. Don’t think 20 nukes would deter Russia or USA from belligerent aggression, considering the regimes in charge.