&gt; Here&#x27;s the rub with that argument though, Japan was not a great power in 1945<p>Well there is an active (and unresolved) historical debate about whether the bombs were justified, but Japan <i>had</i> been a powerful Empire that defeated the UK in Asia and gave the US a run for it&#x27;s money. It is not comparable to a bunch of rebels however you frame it.<p>&gt; other than to view them as the ultimate insurance policy against humanity&#x27;s darkest nature<p>Or just an instrument of global stability. How many times would the cold war have gone hot if it wasn&#x27;t for the fact it would have led to nuclear Armageddon?