N-deterrence still at heart of great power strategy

Nuclear-armed powers have no intention of giving up the atom bomb as part of their military strategy, experts said after the Nobel Peace Prize committee urged against any weakening of the nuclear "taboo".

Awarding this year's peace prize to Japan's Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors pushing for a nuclear weapons ban, the committee said on Friday the atom bomb attacks on both Japanese cities in 1945 had led to a "nuclear taboo" which had, however, come under "pressure" since.

While none of the countries possessing nuclear weapons have used them in war since 1945, the implicit or even explicit threat to do so is part of their arsenal.

Moscow has repeatedly brandished the nuclear threat in a bid to dissuade the West from supporting Ukraine, which has been fending off Russia's invasion since February 2022.

According to Alexander Gabuev, Director at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, it was "no coincidence" that Russian President Vladimir Putin made a nuclear threat on the eve of a meeting between US President Joe Biden and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky about Kyiv's possible use of missiles capable of striking Russian territory.

The Nobel committee wanted to send "a strong signal" to Russia, said Bruno Tertrais, political scientist at France's Strategic Research Foundation.

Russia, he said, had "normalised", even "trivialised", talk of a nuclear weapons use since its invasion of Ukraine.

The Kremlin is not alone.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said last week his country would use nuclear weapons "without hesitation" if attacked by South Korea and it ally, the United States.

And in the Middle East, Israel, the region's only nuclear-armed state, has vowed a "deadly, precise and surprising" response to Iran's direct strike on Israeli territory on October 1.

Tehran, meanwhile, has significantly ramped up its nuclear programme and now has enough material to build more than three atomic bombs, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)