Yeah, there's a lot more to this topic. I had to drastically simplify in order to make it into a reasonable-sized HN comment.
What we're seeing is a breakdown of the bipolar world. At the same time, we're seeing the potential for massive destruction from a number of new attack vectors, and smaller and smaller actors are capable of wielding them. And warfare itself has changed from army-on-army to desultory, infinitely-lived affairs many times done using proxies and fake information.
That changes a lot. The _message_ of using tactical nukes may very well be more important to control than the actual use of them.
What we're seeing is a breakdown of the bipolar world. At the same time, we're seeing the potential for massive destruction from a number of new attack vectors, and smaller and smaller actors are capable of wielding them. And warfare itself has changed from army-on-army to desultory, infinitely-lived affairs many times done using proxies and fake information.
That changes a lot. The _message_ of using tactical nukes may very well be more important to control than the actual use of them.