This is CBS Island of the World. I'm John Batch, with my friend and colleague Gordon Chiang.

I've Gordon G Chiang, home from his venture to Australia. And I'm glad he's back with us,

because we're speaking now of the word deterrence. We welcome our colleague, Peter Hussi,

of Geo Strategic Analysis to take us down memory lane, the first Cold War,

nuclear weapons after 1945. And the concept of deterrence with nuclear weapons,

Peter, a very good day to you. What was deterrence then? And is it the same word now

when we talk about the world? Good evening to you.

Good evening, John. And Gordon, thank you for inviting me on your show. It's always a pleasure.

Deterrence after the end of the Cold War, at the end of the World War II,

up until the end of the Soviet Empire was primarily geared to preventing a Soviet

conventional attack on Western Europe. And we would deter them not because our conventional

capability was sufficient, but it wasn't. We couldn't match the Soviets tank for tank artillery

for artillery, but we could threaten the use of nuclear weapons against Soviet tank armies

or Soviet military capability. And that was the threat we used to prevent a war in Europe.

Now, as you know, in Korea, we ended the war basically on ice now,

basically threatened to use nuclear weapons against China, and that led to an armistice

or an end of the conflict, though, end of the fighting war, but not the end of the conflict, unfortunately.

So, yes, up and through the end of the first Cold War, our deterrent was basically retaliation

to conventional weapons being used against us or our allies in Europe or Asia.

Based on the triad, the horror sites out west, the silos, the nuclear fleet,

the submarine fleet, and then the bombers who could be recalled. That was the basis of deterrents.

Yes, absolutely.

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