ABSTRACT

Rules prohibiting or regulating the use of weapons or methods of warfare form part of the law of armed conflict. Those restricting or banning the possession of weapons belong to the law of arms control and disarmament. Competent studies about the effects of nuclear weapons have made it obvious that nuclear destruction would outweigh any political interests which are meant to be served by nuclear weapons. The first situation, usually referred to as ‘first strike’, is covered by the fundamental rule of international law enshrined in the United Nations Charter. The reservations attached by the Western nuclear-weapon powers to their no-use pledges were dearly addressed to a situation in which a non-nuclear-weapon member of the Warsaw Pact attacked a non-nuclear-weapon member of North Atlantic Treaty Organization with the support of the Soviet Union. The doctrine of nuclear deterrence, which consists in threatening a nuclear attack in response to any armed aggression, would have to be declared invalid.