How did we forget about mutually assured destruction? via BBC News

But the end of the Cold War hasn’t removed the nuclear warheads. Relations between Russia and the West have deteriorated in recent years. China, whose nuclear programme is little understood in the West, is doubling its military spending. India and Pakistan remains a potential flashpoint. So why don’t people fear nuclear war as they used to?

For many analysts the world is now a less stable place than it was during the Cold War. And all the major geopolitical confrontations still revolve around nuclear weapons, says Dr Nick Ritchie, lecturer in international security at the University of York.

“At least several hundred American and Russian nuclear missiles remain on ‘hard alert’ capable of being launched within minutes. Even if that isn’t necessarily the policy or intent, the systems and practices remain in place.”

The ghost of MAD remains even if people would rather not think about it.

Read the entire article at How did we forget about mutually assured destruction?

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