Lithuania has enthusiastically embraced France's offer of shelter beneath a French "nuclear umbrella", and discussions are now under way about allowing ships carrying weapons of mass destruction to enter Lithuanian ports. These moves are a response to Russian and Belarusian actions. But do nuclear weapons actually deter?
"The theory whether or not nuclear weapons deter and prevent wars is almost theological, You know – it becomes an article of faith. You believe in it, or you don't, but there's no evidence base," Andreas Persbo, director of the Open Nuclear Network programme at the non-governmental organisation Pax Sapiens, told LRT.lt in an exclusive interview.
Humanity will inevitably abandon such weapons, Persbo believes – though that is a question of decades, perhaps even centuries.
“I don't think they deter. I think a world war is bound to happen at some point in human history. In the Baltic states, many seem to think it's coming faster than I think it is, but it's bound to happen at some point. And then we're going to have to fight that war with nuclear weapons being present. And I think that increases risks dramatically. Does it mean they're going to be used? I don't know,” the expert argues.
