ICYMI: What's the Point of Nuclear Weapons?

This week we've got a blast from the past. Here's what we said back then:

This week Thomas Nichols helps us understand America’s current nuclear strategy … or lack thereof.

This August marked the 70th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Seven decades later, Washington and the Kremlin control more than 7,000 nuclear warheads … each. Not all of those weapons are active. The two nations have deployed some, stockpiled more and disarmed far too few. And those numbers are down from where they were just a few years ago.

Which is good because nuclear arms are the most terrifying weapons ever created. But with Russia and the United States sitting on so many potential Armageddons — not to mention other nuclear states such as China, India and Pakistan — and so many warheads unused for decades, it begs the question: just what are nuclear weapons good for?

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