Robert Higgs, Ph.D. Wedded to old modes of thinking, defense policy makers resist change in the face of new realities. Though the Cold War has ended, the Soviet Union has disintegrated, and Communism no longer menaces the world, the United States and Russia continue to maintain enormous strategic nuclear forces on alert.
Nuclear weapons pose horrible risks.
The detonation of even one large H-bomb would demolish the largest city, killing millions. The detonation of 10 or 20 such weapons would cause unimaginable devastation to an entire nation. Yet each side maintains thousands of nuclear weapons. But nuclear weapons are poor substitutes. Once the arms race was begun, it became self-sustaining.