[CapricornNoble]

You make some very good points. But creating and maintaining a credible and safe nuclear deterrent is VERY expensive. I think the trick to convincing people they don't need it is to not go around invading other countries in the first place. Mexico doesn't have nukes despite the US easily having a half-dozen reasons it could trump up for "regime change". South Africa gave up their nuke program (I REALLY need to study this one, it's on my To-Do List). Right now we are witnessing Ukraine shatter the Russian military, a pretty good endorsement of conventional deterrence against invasion at least for everyone else who is concerned.