re: #105 Charles

Again, they don’t have to actually use a nuke.

The mere fact of having nuclear weapons is a giant game-changer. The rest of the Middle East will see no option but to follow suit and start their own nuclear weapons programs. (Some of them are undoubtedly doing it already in a low profile way.)

It’s not about using them. It’s about having them.

It’s also about making others, particularly your enemies, believe you have them. Like Sadaam’s little game. He was acquiring, but after Israel took out his reactors in 1981, he never got it going again. He wasn’t going to let anyone know that.

I do think this scenario is different on many levels, but the idea of bluffing isn’t so ridiculous. To me, it’s mostly a reason not to pre-emptively attack Iran.