Should Spain have nuclear weapons?

[gixajo]

Having nuclear weapons is a double-edged sword, on the one hand those who have nuclear weapons will think twice before attacking you, but on the other, having nuclear weapons makes you a priority target of those who have nuclear weapons.

[LittleDarkAge]

Not every nation is like Switzerland which never engages in wars and is left alone. Nations with lack of Western morality run over small countries for their own benefits and don't even care whether those countries declared war or not. Nuclear weapons are necessary, but so is the right of every citizen to buy a gun and protect their own communities.

[gixajo]

Yeah, unfortunately all projects spin around money.

A basic nuclear bomb, dropped from an airplane like a conventional bomb, is relatively inexpensive. Expensive nuclear weapons are those that use missiles or rockets to get to the target. And above all, what is expensive is all the systems associated with weapons, those nuclear missiles, and the maintenance of those systems to be kept operational without rest, every day of the year, 24 hours a day, plus all the necessary systems to defend against a nuclear missile attack, since you become a priority target for any other country with similar nuclear weapons.

But, a nuclear bomb of the type that the Americans used in Hiroshima or Nagasaki, it is not expensive or requires particularly complicated technology, and even that destructive power is still respectable today.

[Aldaris]

Imo spain should be able to defend itself, but the fewer nuclear weapons there are in the world, the better.

As you said, it works more like a deterrent than an actual weapon to be used. I am all for Spain exiting the NATO and if that's ever gonna happen, then having nuclear weapons is a perk. But that's not happening for a while. There are better ways to spend the resources than hoarding for some future war in which Spain would be all alone. That scenario is probably never going to happen, or at least is not very realistic, not in a foreseeable future.

[LittleDarkAge]

As you said, it works more like a deterrent than an actual weapon to be used. I am all for Spain exiting the NATO and if that's ever gonna happen, then having nuclear weapons is a perk. But that's not happening for a while. There are better ways to spend the resources than hoarding for some future war in which Spain would be all alone. That scenario is probably never going to happen, or at least is not very realistic, not in a foreseeable future.

But which country is more likely to engage in a war with Spain?

[Aldaris]

But which country is more likely to engage in a war with Spain?

Declaring an open war against Spain? That's pretty much impossible right now. Spain is a part of an organization that is able to blast anyone who would do that into ash. And any potential fanatical dictator would be aware of that. That's not a thing that's gonna happen anytime soon.

[gixajo]

But which country is more likely to engage in a war with Spain?

Right now no country, although if I had to bet on some country and some cause, it would be with Morocco for Ceuta and Melilla (maybe Canary isles too).

But we would have to annoy the USA and France a lot so that they give to Morocco the green light to start a war with us, promising it some kind of support.

[Diego Garcia]

I've found all comments against nukes reasonable.

But then, why do both France and UK have nukes, if they're that useless and nonsense?

[gixajo]

I've found all comments against nukes reasonable.

But then, why do both France and UK have nukes, if they're that useless and nonsense?

Because they were preferred rivals of the USSR during the cold war, and because both the UK and France aspire to have global influence and maintain a certain independence of action outside of NATO.

Edit:When I say

and maintain a certain independence of action outside of NATO

I mean, outside the umbrella of American nuclear weapons.

[Diego Garcia]

Right now no country, although if I had to bet on some country and some cause, it would be with Morocco for Ceuta and Melilla (maybe Canary isles too).

But we would have to annoy the USA and France a lot so that they give to Morocco the green light to start a war with us, promising it some kind of support.

Ceuta and Melilla are not under the NATO umbrella, the Canary Islands are though