| > nuclear weapons are more or less useless in a modern conflict, as has been observed in the Russia-Ukraine war with endless Russian sabre-rattling Russia is constrained by India and China in its use of tactical nukes in Ukraine. That wouldn't apply in America. > collateral damage from nuclear weapons makes their usage suicidal The excess damage caused by tactical nukes when compared with conventional weapons, particularly the low-efficiency sort that tend to find their way into civil wars, is principally diplomatic. We're currently seeing a breakdown of the rules-based international order. > in the case of the US, states breaking away from the Federal government would also inherit a nuclear arsenal Why? The nukes are on U.S. land, legally and militarily. A state militia attempting to storm a nuclear silo is, if anything, the closest legitimate reason I can think of for why Washington might nuke its own homeland. > Russia-Ukraine war has convinced me that artificial intelligence driven drone warfare has rendered nuclear warfare obsolete There have been no AI drones in that war. Drones are reigning free because nobody established air superiority. |
This hasn't been true since last year, when automated targeting systems began entering the battlefield. They still are not as widely deployed as personnel controlled drones, but over time it appears to be shifting towards battlefield autonomy. Nuclear weapons are a cudgel, automated human-free weapons are a scalpel.
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/missiles-...