But, what if it's a small nuke, a teeny tiny tactical nuclear weapon? Nothing could possibly go wrong. /s

[usonian]

From a Hacker News commenter:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47676516

Once the First Use Taboo is broached, nuclear explosives will be used for everything. Wherever you have a spare 100kg of payload and a hardened or area target - nuclear explosives, from a weapon effect perspective, are simply too good not to use, once the cat's out of the bag. It'll be like machine guns in the early days of WW1, but with each bullet the most powerful device made by Man.

The thing about sociopaths is that they want to visit the hell inside of them upon everyone else.

[Dan]

1. I don't believe that there is such a thing as a "small" nuke.

[GCG]

2. Two types of nuclear weapons

Tactical nuclear weapons (TNWs) are small-yield, short-range nuclear devices designed for battlefield use, rather than destroying cities. They possess yields typically ranging from less than 1 to 100 kilotons and are designed to affect specific battles.


Strategic nuclear weapons (SNWs) are long-range, high-yield nuclear warheads designed for deterrence and destroying a nation's military, economic, or command structure, often targeting cities far from the battlefield.

[Dan]

3. I am aware of the difference between a Tactical or Strategic nuke., but

Any nuke in the proposed situation is not “small”. Any use of any nuke is an escalation beyond which I do not think that we will recover.

[Hugin]

4. One despot's thimble is another despot's bathtub.

It's the mother of all slippery slopes.

[usonian]

5. That was the point of the post.