So – nukes are only a deterrence against a nuclear attack. Back to my other question then; what it was had been the Shetlands or the Western Isles? Or what of it had been all of the Highlands/Scotland etc. You’re saying that we would never deploy nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear invasion force. That implies that the Russians (as an example) could roll into the UK and we (and none of our allies) would threaten nuclear retaliation?
You understand the concept of escalation?
As (repeatedly) pointed out, nobody has ever suggested the response to an attacking or invading force would be immediate use of nuclear weapons. The classic scenario for use of nuclear weapons in an east-v-west scenario (or indeed a India-v-Pakistan, north-v-south Korea etc. Scenario) is where a large scale conventional confrontation descends into either threatened collapse (whereby the side about to lose uses nuclear or chemical weapons as a last ditch effort to neutralise enemy forces) or stalemate (where the attacking forces have run out of steam and resort to chemical or nuclear attack to break the stalemate by neutralising defending forces) – this would be an escalation from conventional warfare to nuclear. Retaining a nuclear capability ourselves is not only the deterrent against escalation to nuclear confrontation – it is a strong argument that the inevitability of escalation from conventional to nuclear has prevented either side in the major “cold” wars from engaging in the risky business of large scale conventional “hot” warfare (forget your minor territorial squabbles).
(I have delibaretly included chemical weapons above, as soviet doctrine for conventional warfare very much included the use of chemical weapons, whereas NATO doctrine would almost inevitably seen the use of large scale chemical bombardment that led to massive loss of life as a serious escalation that may draw a proportionate nuclear response)
Note the use of words like escalation & proportionate – this is where your black and white ‘we would never’ argument falls down.
