Companies? India Inc. and Pak Inc! Shades of Star Wars....
With permanent enemies like India and Pakistan, one side would feel pretty uncomfortable if the other had them and they didn't (as Pakistan did for quite some time after the Indians exploded their first N-weapon.)
In the end it's a strategic matter. Starting a chess game without the queen means you have to think a lot harder to make a game of it....
It's a fair question. It was always argued that nukes saved us from a third World War during the Cold War era, but I can tell you it was no fun living under the shadow of nuclear war through some misadventure or even design. I was standing on the parade ground at high school when Jack Kennedy's speech telling the Soviets to get N-weapons out of Cuba was broadcast live and I'll never forget it. But I have a deepseated distrust of several states that have N-weapons, and even more of others who want them.
You can argue that they can already produce weapons that are 'better' than nukes at a fraction of the price, if they can keep it secret. Biological weapons. Any 'poxy' country with a half decent laboratory can produce some very nasty ones.
Rifty -- Academic and Computing Help
