[Zhang Fei]

[Going nuclear is never going to be an option right up to the point that a nuclear capable country is about to lose a war on their own territory. Then it will be the only option.]

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It will never be an option in the event of conventional defeat. Losing land vs being made extinct? The choice is easy. Whereas any country that launches nukes against a nuclear power in possession of at least hundreds of nukes can expect to have its major cities and their inhabitants cremated. Nuclear doctrine is written to deter. When nuclear deterrence (to conventional invasion) fails, I expect committing suicide by initiating a first strike is a much tougher decision than the dry-as-dust documents would suggest.

Hitler tried to pull the temple down around him. I doubt any other leader, democratic or otherwise, would. Hitler wasn’t right in the head.

[suthener]

“It will never be an option in the event of conventional defeat.”

I respectfully have to disagree. You don’t think Kim Jong-un or the Iranians would use nuclear weapons if they were about to lose a real war? I would seriously question what China or Russia, or the even the U.S. would do. Hell, we used them and we weren’t even losing. Remember nukes don’t necessarily mean destroying an entire country. Tactical nuclear weapons exist for a reason.