S8 Ep1116: Headline: The Value of Deterrence in a Proliferating World Guest: Peter Huessy Huessy argues that the U.S. nuclear umbrella remains vital for protecting allies like South Korea from North Korean aggression. He asserts that nuclear weapons are cost-effecti
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 11 July 2026
⏱️ 5 minutes
🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Headline: The Value of Deterrence in a Proliferating World Guest: Peter Huessy Huessy argues that the U.S. nuclear umbrella remains vital for protecting allies like South Korea from North Korean aggression. He asserts that nuclear weapons are cost-effective compared to massive conventional forces. Without a credible deterrent, reckless actors are more likely to trigger catastrophic global conflicts. (8)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I'm John Batchett with my colleague Peter Husey of the National Institute of Deterrence Studies and the |
| 0:21.2 | Gold Institute for International Strategy. We've got a world now where the nuclear armed states, |
| 0:27.4 | and there are seven, eight, or nine of them are faced with a world of non-nuclear armed states, |
| 0:32.8 | but decisions are being made by those non-nuclear states, whether they want a weapon or not. |
| 0:39.4 | Rose Gottmiller's piece in the foreign affairs is a good think piece, a thought test about |
| 0:48.4 | what is to be done at this moment before their nuclear weapons all across North Africa, |
| 0:53.0 | all across South America. |
| 0:55.0 | The wrong lesson, and you go the wrong way. Nuclear weapons are expensive. They're expensive |
| 0:59.8 | to buy, to build, the upkeep. Do we get our money's worth here in the U.S.? Your opinion, Peter? |
| 1:07.2 | Yes, we get it because the alternative of building a lot more conventional forces is you double and triple your price. |
| 1:13.7 | And the thing is in a world of bad guys with nuclear weapons, I'm not sure you want to have no nuclear weapons as a deterrent. |
| 1:21.1 | We know what happens in a world where there are no nuclear weapons and only conventional. |
| 1:26.3 | And between World War I and World War II was, |
| 1:28.6 | what, 35 years, we ended up with about 100 million people dead. Then we come to the other part, |
| 1:35.1 | states that are not now nuclear powers. Do they get their money's worth? Very expensive. |
| 1:41.2 | They get their monies worth by putting in nuclear weapons against their |
| 1:45.0 | adversaries. Well, give me an example where I lived as a college student for a couple years, |
| 1:50.9 | so it's close to my heart, and that's the Republic of Korea. Critics of who are saying we |
| 1:57.8 | should remove our soldiers there say that South Korea is perfectly capable of defending itself because its conventional capability is very strong. |
| 2:06.1 | On the other hand, depending on who you want to believe, North Korea has anywhere from 20, 30, 40 nuclear weapons up in the hundreds. |
| 2:14.5 | And the question is there is no defense, even missile defense won't be able to |
| 2:18.2 | stop most of them or some of them will get through. And that question is that South Koreans |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 15 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from John Batchelor, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of John Batchelor and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.