NATO nuclear drill is further provocation

From the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons: “The annual NATO nuclear weapons use exercise called Steadfast Noon is set to go ahead, starting Monday 17 October. In any regular year these annual nuclear exercises are essentially drills on the logistics of the mass murder of civilians, but in the current context, they are outright dangerous as they further increase the risk of escalation. 

“Press reports are also pointing out that Russia is likely to hold its own nuclear exercises very soon. In light of this, ICAN has put out a statement from its executive director, Beatrice Fihn:

“’Following Russia’s egregious nuclear threats in the context of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, these exercises by NATO do nothing to calm fears about the potential use of nuclear weapons. On the contrary, by implying the intention to use these weapons of mass destruction, they legitimate Putin’s nuclear threats. All nuclear exercises, even those preparing for the use of so-called tactical weapons, imply the willingness to indiscriminately kill and injure tens of thousands of people and cause lasting environmental damage. They are both irresponsible and illegal under the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. With Russia also expected to hold nuclear exercises in the near future, there is the added risk of further escalation in nuclear tensions. ICAN  urges both NATO and Russia to cancel them.’”

These maneuvers also expose the fallacy of nuclear deterrence that suggests the possession of such lethal weapons, too dangerous to ever be used, deters nuclear war. However, if there is no plan to ever use them, why practice doing exactly that?