“‘Nuclear messaging’ means using certain rhetorical statements or changes to the nuclear system to signal to the other side that one would be ready to use nuclear weapons,” says peace researcher Ulrich Kühn.
The possession of nuclear weapons thus enables a state to make threats of devastating violence, which can then be used to assert political interests. So it’s about using deterrence strategically. Today, nine countries – USA, Russia, Great Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea – possess nuclear weapons.