https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16974/popular-nuclear-mythology
While one looks with alarm at the massive Russian nuclear modernization effort now nearing completion, the disarmament lobby — such as Ploughshares and Global Zero — views such modernization as simply a reflection of how the American threat is perceived by the Russians.
There is also little doubt that the Russian Federation’s priority investment in nuclear weapons was — and remains — aimed primarily to checkmate the United States’ conventional weapons superiority, and give Russia a free hand to use its own military power for hegemonic purposes. The same could be said of North Korea and Iran’s decisions to go along their respective paths to nuclear breakout.
What brings the issue to the forefront today is that many luminaries of previous administrations who may now be staffing the incoming administration still hold these historically inaccurate views.
A commitment to a “sole-purpose” posture — or to its equivalent, a “no-first-use” stance — not only undermines the US nuclear umbrella upon which America’s allies have relied for 70 years, it also invites a Russian first strike. Moscow’s conventional and nuclear forces are configured for just that kind of operation and are ultimately restrained only by the American nuclear deterrent.
If the United States wrongly assumes that Russia’s deterrent serves no offensive purpose, we would be ignoring recent and authoritative evidence to the contrary…. Russia’s military posture is fundamentally offensive…. “active defense.”
Russia’s ability to initiate conventional strikes against its rivals and adversaries is closely backed up by nuclear weapons.
Iran would undoubtedly see even partial unilateral US disarmament as a green light for its nuclear quest. One can imagine what that would lead to in the Middle East.
Moreover, US unilateral acts of altruism, designed to lead by example, will not be reciprocated: states in general, and certainly Russia and China, are, to quote Charles De Gaulle, “cold monsters.”
There is a widespread belief, especially among advocates of nuclear disarmament, that a country with nuclear weapons is primarily interested in self-protection. The narrative continues with another belief — really more of a wish — that nuclear weapons should never be used to deter anything other than a nuclear attack from an adversary and, if that can be agreed upon, nations would then be willing to get rid of nuclear weapons altogether.
