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It isn’t that easy. First of all, five nukes wouldn’t “crash the world” at all—the US alone have blown up over a thousand nukes already, in tests. Many of them on the surface. The world didn’t end.

Second, if you were going to nuke another country, you would use plenty of your nukes to target their nuke sites, so most of their nukes won’t ever be used. You won’t be left with 200 nukes after an attack, if that is all you have.

That blowing up a few nukes, even on big cities, will end civilization is an old KGB myth. Back then, the commies were trying to convince our people that all we had to do was destroy all our nukes, and the peace loving communists would be so impressed by our peaceful ways of love, that they will spontaneously disarm, too, and we will all hug each other and spend the rest of our days eating granola together.

Instead, a nuclear war is quite doable, especially for a dictator. Japanese and German cities were totally destroyed after World War II; a few years later, they had been rebuilt. A dictator has only to be ruthless and evil enough, and this will seem like a viable option to him. The likes of Hitler, Stalin, Mao, perhaps even Assad, would not have any compunction whatever. Not to mention the crazy Islamists.

That is why you can never have enough nukes.

It isn’t that easy. First of all, five nukes wouldn’t “crash the world” at all—the US alone have blown up over a thousand nukes already, in tests. Many of them on the surface. The world didn’t end.

I think navy vets point is a different one: One nuke in Beijing or New York would seriously f*ck up the world ECONOMY. With factory farming today you also need a supply chain (fertilizer, chemicals) and logistics. Hitting a number of industrial centers could also harm a nation's food supply.

That blowing up a few nukes, even on big cities, will end civilization is an old KGB myth.

Would it be the end of makind? No. Would it be the end of iPads, tourism, affordable gasoline and many other things that rely on international trade? Most likely yes. In 1950 there were 2.5 billion people living on the planet, now it's three times that. Trade and technology have become a necessity when having that many people, that's why the world economy is so fickle.

Instead, a nuclear war is quite doable, especially for a dictator. Japanese and German cities were totally destroyed after World War II; a few years later, they had been rebuilt.

And yet at the same time Germany shied away from using biological and chemical weapons, fearing that due to its central location it would have more to lose in a chemical / biological war.