is there any point in having nuclear weapons anymore?

[mrstickball]

Chark said:

spurgeonryan said:

Then what when China or Iran say they do not give a Shit and hit someone? 20,000 is over kill though. Send them to space and then blow them up, or drop them in that deep trench in Pacific ocean and let them slowly die.

Sending them into space risks extintion because if the rockets sending them out there have an accident and explode say hello nuclear winter.

Droping them into the ocean, or buring them under a mountain, means that they will be there decaying for 10,000 years risking future peril due to the earth's movement. An earthquake or a plate shift could spell disaster for the future of mankind.

If you're really worried about that, you should note that we've sent tons of radioactive material in space via RTGs and actual nuclear reactors. They have a level of danger, but so do ICBMs which go to the edge of space before landing on Earth.

 

As for OP - full nuclear disarmament is an incredibly idiotic thing. Without the spectre of mutually assured destruction, many, MANY more wars would have been fought over the past 60 years. Without fear of annihilation, there is almost no doubt that World War 3 would have commenced years ago, as the Soviet Union had vastly higher numbers of weapons in Europe and could have easily taken the entire continent after World War 2. The reason they didn't? US and French doctrine called for tactical nukes against the USSR in case of hostilities. Take that away, and the Soviet Union had nothing stopping them from owning Europe (unless you believe that NATO could have doubled or tripled their deployed units in Europe).