Nuclear Weapons. Useful Defense Tools or Weapons to be Banned?

Although nuclear weapons are terribly destructive and their use would be at odds with international humanitarian law, they are still regarded as legitimate defense tools, at least by the nuclear armed states and their allies. According to the advocates of nuclear deterrence, their purpose is not to use them. But the critics argue that the threat of using them and the risk of them falling into the wrong hands make the world insecure. Due to an initiative of more than 100 non-nuclear weapon states, the odds are that multilateral negotiations for a Nuclear Weapons Ban will be started up in 2017. ‘Weasel states’ like the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany are hesitant.