Editing No first use (section)

{{Short description|Refrainment from using weapons of mass destruction unless attacked with them first}}
{{Nuclear weapons}}
In [[nuclear ethics]] and [[deterrence theory]], '''no first use''' ('''NFU''') refers to a type of pledge or policy wherein a [[List of states with nuclear weapons|nuclear power]] formally refrains from the use of [[nuclear weapons]] or other [[weapons of mass destruction]] (WMD) in [[war]]fare, except for as a [[second strike]] in retaliation to an attack by an enemy power using WMD. Such a pledge would allow for a unique state of affairs in which a given nuclear power can be engaged in a conflict of [[conventional weapons|conventional weaponry]] while it formally forswears any of the strategic advantages of nuclear weapons, provided the enemy power does not possess or utilize any such weapons of their own. The concept is primarily invoked in reference to nuclear [[mutually assured destruction]] but has also been applied to [[Chemical warfare|chemical]] and [[biological warfare]], as is the case of the official WMD policy of [[India and weapons of mass destruction|India]].<ref>{{cite web |title=India's Response to CBW attack |url=https://idsa.in/cbwmagazine/IndiaResponsetoCBWAttack_aahmed_1008 |publisher=Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sundaram |first1=Kumar |last2=Ramana |first2=M.V. |title=India and the Policy of No First Use of Nuclear Weapons |journal=Journal for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament |volume=1 |pages=152–168 |year=2018 |doi=10.1080/25751654.2018.1438737 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[China]] and [[India]] are currently the only two nuclear powers to formally maintain a no first use policy, adopting pledges in 1964 and 1998 respectively. Both [[NATO]] and a number of its member states have repeatedly rejected calls for adopting a NFU policy,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.armscontrol.org/act/1999_07-08/jmja99 |title=NATO's Nuclear Weapons: The Rationale for 'No First Use' |publisher=Arms Control Association |date=July–August 1999 |first=Jack |last=Mendelsohn}}</ref> as during the lifetime of the Soviet Union a [[pre-emptive nuclear strike]] was commonly argued as a key option to afford NATO a credible nuclear deterrent, compensating for the overwhelming conventional weapon superiority enjoyed by the [[Soviet Army]] in [[Eurasia]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Chang |first=Gordon |title=Declaring a no-first-use nuclear policy would be exceedingly risky |url=https://thebulletin.org/declaring-no-first-use-nuclear-policy-would-be-exceedingly-risky9689|date=July 27, 2016|website=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160728162546/http://thebulletin.org/declaring-no-first-use-nuclear-policy-would-be-exceedingly-risky9689|archive-date=July 28, 2016 |url-status=dead|access-date=January 24, 2018}}</ref><ref name="Tierney 2016">{{cite news |last=Tierney |first=Dominic |title=Refusing to Nuke First Is for the Powerful|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/09/nuclear-obama-north-korea-pakistan/499676/|work=The Atlantic|access-date=2018-01-24|language=en-US}}</ref> In 1993, [[Russia]] dropped a pledge against first use of nuclear weapons made in 1982 by [[Leonid Brezhnev]],<ref>{{cite news |last=Schmemann |first=Serge |title=Russia Drops Pledge of No First Use of Atom Arms|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/04/world/russia-drops-pledge-of-no-first-use-of-atom-arms.html|access-date=2 January 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 4, 1993}}</ref> with Russian military doctrine later stating in 2000 that Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons "in response to a large-scale conventional aggression".<ref>[http://www.pugwash.org/reports/nw/federov.htm No First Use of Nuclear Weapons meeting: paper by Yuri Fedorov, 'Russia's Doctrine on the Use of Nuclear Weapons'] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204145927/http://www.pugwash.org/reports/nw/federov.htm |date=December 4, 2008}} – Pugwash Meeting no. 279 London, UK, 15–17 November 2002</ref> Pakistan has also made similar statements, largely in reference to intermittent military tensions with India. [[North Korea and weapons of mass destruction|North Korea]] has publicly pledged to refrain from a preemptive nuclear strike, while threatening retaliation up to and including WMD against conventional aggression.
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