# Trump's Foreign Policy Briefing and use of Nukes

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-foreign-policy-briefing-and-use-of-nukes/761718>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [August 4, 2016, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-foreign-policy-briefing-and-use-of-nukes/761718 "2016-08-04T07:38:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 18

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**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-foreign-policy-briefing-and-use-of-nukes/761718/18 "2016-08-04T12:43:26Z")

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> [@Smapti](#):
>
> With all due respect; _you are wrong_.
> 
> Nuclear weapons are, unquestionably, the single most destructive weapon man has ever created; not only because of the sheer power of a nuclear detonation, but because of the fallout that such a detonation produces. They’re a game-changer in every sense of the word; a state that is targeted with nuclear weapons suffers not only in the moment, but for decades or centuries afterward.

That’s not correct. Look at Hiroshima and Nagasaki now.

> [@](#):
>
> A superpower in possession of nuclear weapons possesses the capability to not only completely devastate an enemy, but to butcher their population en masse and render the land itself uninhabitable for centuries afterward, and cause severe lasting harm not only to the enemy, but to the entire human race and the entire ecosystem itself.

Again, this is not true. Sure a large number of people die, but people are born and fill the gap. There are millions born every day. The land area affected by a nuclear strike is trivial. What are a few square miles or even tens of square miles out of millions. And, as Nagasaki and Hiroshima show, the land can be cleaned.

The other thing you’re missing is that people will take advantage of your unwillingness to use nukes. To show restraint, you have not show restraint in some cases. How do you know if someone can kick your arse if they never actually kick anyone’s arse?

> [@QuickSilver](#):
>
> For the sake of argument, which one?

I’d have used nukes in the Korean War, Vietnam, and Iraq. Indeed, that nukes were not used against Iraq was a huge indicator that Iraq did not possess WMD.

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