Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow :
In the event of a nuclear war, both sides will be so badly harmed that it will be
impossible to declare one side or the other as the winner, even if one of them tries to
attack and disable the nuclear weapons of its rival, the other would still be left with
enough nuclear weapons to inflict unacceptable destruction. Both sides have the
capacity to retaliate against an attack and to cause so much destruction that neither
can afford to initiate war. Thus, the cold war – in spite of being an intense form of
rivalry between great powers – remained a ‘cold’ and not hot or shooting war. The
deterrence relationship prevents war but not the rivalry between powers.
(i) Why did intense rivalry between the superpowers remain a cold war only?
(ii) Why can’t a nuclear war between the two nuclear powers be decisive?
(iii) Explain the logic of ‘deterrence’.
(i)
US and USSR were not engaged in direct wars as both the superpowers were not in a state to handle the destructions caused by nuclear weapons, therefore, the intense form of rivalry between great powers remained.
(ii)
Both the blocs USA and USSR have more or less equal nuclear power and nuclear war would not lead to any victory for either bloc, rather would bring losses to both the blocs and the world. Hence nuclear war can't be decisive.
(iii)
To prevent the other side from attacking by a promise to raise the cost of war to an unacceptable level, this security policy is called deterrence
Couldn't generate an explanation.
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