To achieve what? Most nuclear powers have a strict "no first strike" policy, not to mention that they'll face the condemnation of the rest of the world.
I sincerely hope that ethics and the indomitable human spirit will emerge triumphant in those circumstances.
Haha yes I was thinking strategically alone in my own response to this anxiety. Assuming nuclear state A is willing to become a pariah state in exchange for destroying nuclear state B, the calculus still doesn’t make sense.
I think you are correct in the additional psychological analyses, no sober minded human would willingly fire a nuclear weapon when not forced to strategically, and the economic costs of becoming a pariah state are far too high for state A to even come to the conclusion that it’s worth it to destroy state B (see Russia becoming a pariah state in early 2022 and quickly becoming shut off from the world economy, even from traditional Allies).
I sincerely hope that ethics and the indomitable human spirit will emerge triumphant in those circumstances.