I had this talk with my father's cousin who works in the nuclear.

Basically, he was in favour of the 'dissuasive' aspect of the nuclear weaponry. Sum it up as an apocalyptic dick-contest where you can say:

'Hey guy ! You think you're scaring the shit out of me with your 80 MT warhead ? Well look at these 50 bombs I got here for you...'

The expected effect here is:

No one will make the first move. You have them just to be sure you won't have to use them.

So when asked about the testing of the bomb by Chirac at the beginning of his term, he answered simply:

'This was to see if it is working.'

'You are testing something you are not planning to use, right ?'

'Yes, although we would only use it as a last resort.'

'And, what if you had the possibility to let the world know you have the bomb without testing it, a bomb which warhead would not be loaded...'

''This is completely ridiculous...'

I was daydreaming on the way home.

We're on the brink of a nuclear war. The enemy launches his warheads. It's Defcon 5. The president orders to wreak havoc on the other country. But there's this scientist coming up to him, saying 'Look, the bombs are not worling... We never thought this would ever happen, everybody knows the planet will never survive this.'

And we're all waiting. And as they've now gone ballistic and prepare to strike the world covers his eyes. For ten seconds nobody breathes, as all the empty shells come crashing on the ground like drunken whales.