Yes it works for North Korea. Have they crossed the DMZ lately? No.
MAD works for non-nuclear nations because it is agreed that any nation dropping a nuke on anyone else is to be stopped. Every atomic nation is supposed to start blowing them to kingdom come.
In theory: they'd target the aggressor's nuclear capabilities & blow those "1st strike" weapons to oblivion. That would effectively end any war except: 2nd strike weapons are really hard to stop!
So any Nuclear War would probably follow one of 2 scenarios:
Use It Or Lose It: The aggressor launches everything at all their enemies to erase their counter-strike ability, then demand surrender.
Do You Got Any Balls: drop 1-2 "tactical" nukes and dare the world to do anything about it.
Both are bad, but MAD is supposed to counter the 1st option. Nothing can be done about the second, which is what Putin's signaling right now.
Yes it works for North Korea. Have they crossed the DMZ lately? No.
MAD works for non-nuclear nations because it is agreed that any nation dropping a nuke on anyone else is to be stopped. Every atomic nation is supposed to start blowing them to kingdom come.
In theory: they'd target the aggressor's nuclear capabilities & blow those "1st strike" weapons to oblivion. That would effectively end any war except: 2nd strike weapons are really hard to stop!
So any Nuclear War would probably follow one of 2 scenarios:
Both are bad, but MAD is supposed to counter the 1st option. Nothing can be done about the second, which is what Putin's signaling right now.