Nuclear Weapons inbuilt bias. Why nations feel they must have them...
I was talking with my father and he brought up this point from an article that he had read.
The problem with nuclear weapons, besides their terrifying power, or because of it, is that they quickly become powerful geopolitical tools.
There is this unspoken idea that we have a list of countries that we "trust" with nuclear weapons. Usually westernized nations with economies similar to ours. The truth is mostly these are just countries we see as our allies. It's difficult to argue that nuclear weapons are necessarily safe in any counties hands. And indeed the only country to have ever dropped one on a populated target is the US.
Nuclear Weapons are more symbol and tools than actual weapons. They represent respect and fear. Countries that possess them are placed in a special category that must be treated with kid gloves if they are not our immediate allies.
One thing that the global super powers do at times of course is treat smaller nations with extreme contempt. Indeed at various times the US, Russia, China and other countries have actively supported coups, toppled foreign regimes, and simply greatly meddled in the affairs of other nations to disastrous effect, for their own gains.
So it's not surprising that many such nations feel threatened and want a bulwark against said super powers. One quick way to gain "respect" and hands off status is to gain nuclear weapons.
Let me be clear I'm not arguing that nations like North Korea should have nuclear weapons. Indeed the thought scares me. But neither should anyone have them. The problem is that once they have been invented and used a precedent has been set the genie is out of the bag. It then becomes very difficult to argue that there should be some nations that are allowed to have them and others that can't. Based on what? Morals, cultural values, past history with their use? The US certainly fails in each of those categories at different times. Certainly NK is probably the last country that I would want to have them but that argument quickly becomes hypocritical and condescending sounding when you have the largest such arsenal in the world.
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