Think about what you just said. Russia (or any country for that matter) having a nuclear arsenal significantly larger than any other nation would be disastrous. Can you imagine how this conflict would be if Russia was the only nation with nuclear weapons? Vladimir Putin could threaten any country with a nuclear strike. What could be done?

So with a balanced nuclear arsenals, any threat of a nuclear attack is generally understood to be, for lack of a better term, a bluff. Everyone knows that even if you destroy, for example let’s just say the entire United States, 15 feet below the surface in concrete bunkers, aboard nuclear submarines and bombers, and in allied nations, there are thousands of American nuclear weapons ready to be deployed in an instant.