[gambiting]

>>I think it's worth gaming out a world without nuclear weapons in the context of the Ukraine war.

I'm not so sure - someone else might equally argue that if Ukraine had nuclear weapons it wouldn't have been attacked in the first place, so maybe that's the path that it should have taken.

And equally - "both Russia and NATO would be more willing to countenance a direct confrontation."

Maybe. Or maybe it's posturing. I think EU's support for Ukraine is huge and populations of many countries still support sending them weapons and supplies, but if they had to send their men and women to die in Ukraine the discussion would be different. Not saying they wouldn't, just that it's easy to say "oh if only Russia didn't have nuclear weapons we'd definitely go and fight them". It's theoretical.

[mr_00ff00]

I think you vastly overestimate how much old politicians care about sending other people to die.