The Nuke Allows Nation States to Fight Wars Like a Duel

The nuke allows nation states to fight the war like a duel instead of a boxing match. Gerard thinks that because the cultural frictions of war have gone away with Napoleon, he thinks we truly are at the end times. All we need is one little spark, one little new assassination of Arc du France Ferdinand, most likely in the form of something about global trade that engenders the conflict and the whole world is going to go boom.