ITS A DIFFERENT CENTURY.
Despite the SPIN that tries to portray this debate as a rerun of the eighties, for the sake of a few slushfund shakedowns more, with rake-offs from "cost plus percentage" deals from dodgy corporations with attending dodgier "insecurity" industries - THIS IS A VERY DIFFERENT SITUATION.
People playing infowar games for this "campaign" should sort a few facts out - it affects YOU, TOO, it also affects you IN THE NEAR FUTURE - even if your promise of "payment" includes a place in the mythical Doctors escape pod.

ITS THE DECISION THAT DOES THE DAMAGE.
The "signpost" effect - trendsetting.
Prior to a pound getting spent.
All over the world, others in far less safe regions are choosing "defence" strategies.
Treaties WERE working - but the decision to create the POSTCOLDWAR fashion for - a spade is a spade -TERROR WEAPONS is about as stupid as you could possibly get.

THAT WAS TWO "SIDES", THIS IS LOTS.
East versus west was never "detente" - it was a very accelerating arms race we were VERY lucky to get out of. To say "but its the same deck of cards" ie trying to call it a "trident" renewal - is a calculated dishonesty - but also very, very stupid when the game is so VERY different. Is chess chess with this amount of "players"? The "failsafes" - phones from whitehouse to kremlin etc - amongst other things - took 50 YEARS to work out, but came nearer to utter failure than people are EVER GOING TO HEAR ABOUT - OFTEN.
But the "house of cards" world is full of trembler-trigger "cascade" effects that PEOPLE THAT ARE WORKING IN THE LABORATORY NEXT DOOR aint told about.

The "deterrent" against a nation using a nuclear weapon IS - OF COURSE - ALL THE OTHER NATIONS GETTING TOGETHER TO SORT THEM OUT.

Easy. Nukes aint necessary.

The "tech" side of treaties has had a lot of progress - detectors, seismology, LOTS.
The NPT has meant the dam isnt broken - exceptions proof of the rule - but if the existing NWS (nuclear weapon states) welsh on its straightforward deal, ( "we dont get nukes if you get rid of yours as soon as possible" ) then that dam breaks.
The NPT conferences every 5 years have seen SERIOUS strains recently .

But a nuclear weapon world treaty process is far from the myth it once was. Its practical - the world "push" exists for it (South Africa chose against it, Libya too - but without SERIOUS integrity from the "old" nuclear weapon states, with simultaneous strengthening of the deliberate democratic multilateral "institutions" - the rackets might screw the world up as the rackets almost screwed up the peace process in Ulster/Derry.
We mightnt even discover ways to forgive OURSELVES if we choose to put a bloody great flag over "whoops apocalypses" of the worst sorts anybody might imagine, due to a few kickbacks from dodgy USA/UK Engineer corporations ( - sdi = big, sad warbux too, ( worse), but "needs" this idiotic nukes-for-every-little-nation theory as its excuse ).
What a way to go.