In the early 1960s, U.S. nuclear strategists realized that a national strategy entirely reliant upon the threat of massive nuclear retaliation was not credible, that most challenges would not rise to the level of justifying nuclear response and that the Soviets would seek to take advantage of that fact.

FORBES: DOD Cyber Strategy Remains Ambiguous on Threats and Responses

Second, as an alternative to defenses, national leaders adopted a strategy of deterrence, meaning any enemy foolish enough to launch a nuclear attack would suffer devastating retaliation-in-kind.

FORBES: Nuclear Weapons: How Few Is Too Few?

The threat of massive retaliation in the nuclear context only deterred all-out nuclear war, but not the many other conflicts that plagued the latter half of the 20th Century that did not rise to the level of provoking a nuclear response.

FORBES: DOD Cyber Strategy Remains Ambiguous on Threats and Responses

Moody's says (and many Indian businessmen agree) that the fundamental problem is not sanctions imposed by America and others in retaliation for the nuclear tests, but unstable politics, insufficient commitment to real economic reform and continuing obstruction of foreign investment in infrastructure.

ECONOMIST: India

The convention bans such systems under the belief that a country would not launch a nuclear strike if it were unable to protect itself against retaliation.

CNN: Asian nations split over U.S. missile defense plans

Tensions over Tehran's alleged attempts to develop nuclear weapons have led to Iran halting oil exports to the UK and France in retaliation for European Union sanctions.

BBC: Hague warns of 'Middle East arms race'

During the Cold War, when the United States faced the threat of a nuclear attack, U.S. administrations made clear that any strike would prompt an all-out retaliation.

NPR: Cyberattack: U.S. Unready For Future Face Of War