# Your thoughts on whether a limited nuclear exchange is possible and/or feasible **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 21, 2026, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-on-whether-a-limited-nuclear-exchange-is-possible-and-or-feasible/1031833 "2026-07-21T17:35:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2026, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-on-whether-a-limited-nuclear-exchange-is-possible-and-or-feasible/1031833/41 "2026-07-27T19:25:11Z")
> [@Dark\_Sponge](#): > > I think that’s the opposite of the current situation, in almost every country. In my scenario, this is a disputed, rural territory in-between the two countries, with both countries claiming ownership. I’ll just point out that one could make an honest genuine case like that about e.g. Kashmir. One could not make a genuiune honest case about Crimea or Donbass. Or the 9 Dash Line in the South China Sea. Both India and Pakistan have legit claims to Kashmir. Russia’s and China’s respective claims exist only in their imperialist fever dreams. They have zero legitimacy. IMO that’s a huge difference which would hugely affect how any self-nuking in the course of invasion would play out w the rest of the audience of nuclear powers. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2026, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-on-whether-a-limited-nuclear-exchange-is-possible-and-or-feasible/1031833/42 "2026-07-27T19:39:16Z")
Whether any other country takes the claim seriously or not, the opposing country always does. Which means that a country nuking disputed territory is nuking territory that another nation claims is their own. How would that not lead to escalation from the other country? If Ukraine somehow gets ahold of a nuke and sets it off in Donbass, what do you think Russia would do? ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Sponge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dark_sponge/32/121_2.png) [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2026, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-on-whether-a-limited-nuclear-exchange-is-possible-and-or-feasible/1031833/43 "2026-07-27T20:06:05Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’ll just point out that one could make an honest genuine case like that about e.g. Kashmir… > > …Both India and Pakistan have legit claims to Kashmir… Yes, I was specifically envisioning scenarios like India vs Pakistan and North vs South Korea. But IRL Korea’s demilitarized zone would need to be much larger for it to work in this scenario. And I’m not sure Kashmir really works as a buffer territory. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2026, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-on-whether-a-limited-nuclear-exchange-is-possible-and-or-feasible/1031833/44 "2026-07-27T20:24:17Z")
There’s a lot of land on both sides of the UN-recognized Kashmiri Line of Control that both sides claim & covet. And yes, the Korean DMZ, like the short-lived Viet Nam DMZ, are a fundamentally different beast. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2026, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-on-whether-a-limited-nuclear-exchange-is-possible-and-or-feasible/1031833/45 "2026-07-27T20:30:09Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > If Ukraine somehow gets ahold of a nuke and sets it off in Donbass, what do you think Russia would do? I agree w your point. Russia certainly considers Donbass their’s now, and practically speaking they’re correct even if they might have been engaging in wishful thinking when they thought that 30 years ago. The larger question is how does NATO or China react to Ukraine’s Donbass nuke or Russia’s response? The bulk of the escalatory equation is about third parties, not the principals. With a hefty caveat if either of the principals is the USA or Russia who each possess truly world-altering numbers of nuclear weapons. Unlike all other nations. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-on-whether-a-limited-nuclear-exchange-is-possible-and-or-feasible/1031833/46 "2026-07-28T01:48:51Z")
> [@Dark\_Sponge](#): > > The “aggressor” country has already announced it will fire a nuke at a territory it claims as its own. It knows it will piss off the other country, but is doing so as a calculated risk. If the enemy now attempts to invade through the nuked territory it has to deal with radiation, not to mention the aggressor country can just nuke the same territory again. Which is why the targeted country will kill them all. If they are allowed to get away with it, they’ll almost certainly decide that means they can do it again. And again. And again. Until the targeted nation is outright erased. The standard “salami slicing” tactic, except with nukes. ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-on-whether-a-limited-nuclear-exchange-is-possible-and-or-feasible/1031833/47 "2026-08-06T09:55:27Z")
another scenario where there could be a limited exchange of Nukes ,would be to contain the threat of an weaponized virus.. I’m reading Biological War: A Scenario:by Annie Jacobsen, Annie, where she writes that the US reserved the option to nuke a lab in case of an outbreak, because any conventional weapon system could not guarantee the destruction of any escaped pathogen. officially against rogue actors(AQ) or rogue states (NK) but also against Rusian Black labs in case of an accident ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-on-whether-a-limited-nuclear-exchange-is-possible-and-or-feasible/1031833/48 "2026-08-06T10:59:44Z")
I thought it was crystal-clear (in that book, anyway) that there could _not_ be a nuclear strike against a biological site because (a) it would result in guaranteed Global Thermonuclear War; and (b) by the time your intel positively indicated such a target (in the book it was a town containing a biological weapons lab where there had been an outbreak) it would be way too late anyway (in the book it had already spread to 2 or 3 more countries, including in L.A.) ---
**Author:** ![Ancient\_Nerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@Ancient\_Nerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ancient_Nerd)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2026, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-on-whether-a-limited-nuclear-exchange-is-possible-and-or-feasible/1031833/49 "2026-08-07T20:57:45Z")
In WWII, the US arsenal consisted of three bombs and we used them all. One was a test in New Mexico. The other two were Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The argument against doing a demonstration blast first was that we only had two bombs available. In the only actual case, we used our entire stockpile. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-on-whether-a-limited-nuclear-exchange-is-possible-and-or-feasible/1031833/50 "2026-09-03T02:41:44Z")
see the “Apollo affair” carried out by the LAKAM that stole **over 200 pounds of highly enriched uranium** from the plant in PA in the 60’s [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-thoughts-on-whether-a-limited-nuclear-exchange-is-possible-and-or-feasible/1031833.md?page=2)