Nuclear ComplacencyThat principle has broken down, at least with respect to nuclear weapons. The proof that the era of nuclear deterrence has come to an end is most visible with respect to the former Soviet Union. Nato's Article Five is projected as a form of Western deterrence at least as much as is the United States' nuclear capability. The subsequent 'Cold' War was mostly but not entirely a 'cold nuclear war', a nuclear war of the imagination. (We commonly think of 'plants' – including nuclear 'factories' – as targets for conventional weapons; and cities as targets for nuclear weapons.)