The problem is food production, or rather the lack of one. Once you irradiate a large enough portion of the Earth's biosphere (after a total and complete destruction of pretty much the entire territory of the US, Russia and probably most of the NATO cities of Europe by second and third strike strategic forces) even if you disregard the very likely proposition of a nuclear winter, the radiation poisoning alone of most of the world's freshwater supply will completely and utterly devastate the production of food in the third world countries which would survive the initial nuclear holocaust. Most of these poorer countries have problems with food production TODAY, imagine what would happen to their populations if they had to deal with the fallout of that magnitude.
Within a few years of this kind of conflict most higher mammals would be extinct, including humans. Any kind of nuclear confrontation between states is pure and utter madness.
This comment was edited on Nov 22, 2023, 03:25.