Geopolitics

Ukraine gave up its nukes in 1994 under the Budapest Memorandum, trading real deterrence for empty promises from the US, UK, and yes: Russia.

Fast forward: one guarantor invades, the others send helmets and hashtags. 

The message to the world is clear: nuclear-armed countries don’t get invaded.

Israel's strikes in Iran offer further proof of the inverse: if you're even close to getting nukes, you might be bombed preemptively.

Conclusion? Nukes are the only insurance policy that matters. 

No treaty. 

No alliance. 

No moral outrage will protect a non-nuclear state from a nuclear-armed one.

The age of disarmament is dead. 

We're in the age of proliferation.

wish that were not the case but alas it is true

there is a silver lining: the nuclear deterrent still works as deterrent