Having your country nuked back will also make a lot of your assets less valuable - and it’s also likely that your country is dependent on some big actor who’s really invested in the nuclear taboo.

Like, one of the many reasons Russia won’t use nukes in Ukraine, is probably because it would seriously piss off India and China, who both have a troubled relationship with a nuclear-armed neighbor.

The fact that mutual dependence contributes to stability and peace is something we don’t talk so much about these days… I hope the lesson that reminds us won’t be too brutal :\