E10: Opinion: What’s stopping the Third World War?

We are one insane decision away from an all-out nuclear war. Nuclear weapons are the most dangerous threat posed to humankind. I consider that disarming all nuclear weapons is the only way to prevent the total collapse of the human race. However, contrary to popular opinion, I also believe that nuclear weapons are the reason there isn’t a third world war.

The reason why I believe nuclear weapons are stopping a world war are:

1. Nuclear Weapons ensure that war isn’t a numbers game: Wars before nuclear weapons just came down to a numbers game. Who had more personnel, more tanks, and more ships? Deployment of a nuclear weapon erases any benefit each side has. Wars often end up making reducing peoples’ lives into a number of lives lost. Nuclear weapons pose a no-win situation to both parties. It becomes collective suicide, a point also raised by the famed historian Yuval Noah Harari.
2. Advantageous for Smaller Nations: A few wars get more attention than others because the war involves a nuclear weapon state. For example, the Ukraine-Russia war. However, there have been ongoing conflicts such as the one in Yemen that have not received the kind of attention they ought to get. A small nation like North Korea can bring large countries to the negotiation table because of the nuclear weapon threat. Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons in exchange for the transfer of debt to Russia during the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The situation might have been different today if Ukraine retained nuclear weapons.
3. Space for diplomacy and peace talks: The threat of nuclear weapons prompts the possibility of peace talks and negotiations instead of a constant, never-ending battle. Here are the news clippings from when the USA bombed Japan. The devastation was massive, which prompted many nations not to involve themselves in wars that could have such possible outcomes. We are all part of the same race, and nuclear weapons threaten the existence of the race.

I do not support the proliferation of nuclear weapons under the reasons I have stated above, and neither do I support the nuclear weapons programs of a few countries. The point I put forward here is that the possession of nuclear weapons by responsible states can maintain peace in the world.

As a member of the human race, I firmly believe that humans are an advanced species that need not fight wars to settle land disputes, and they are better off talking to each other and resolving conflicts. The threat of nuclear weapons to humankind serves as a unifier for people to come together and talk it out instead of involving themselves in a fight with each other.

Disclaimer: Views are mine and mine alone.