Sorry, I think I wasn't clear in what I was suggesting with the sentence: "It's not difficult to imagine worse scenarios where the Soviet nuclear arsenal played

Sorry, I think I wasn't clear in what I was suggesting with the sentence: "It's not difficult to imagine worse scenarios where the Soviet nuclear arsenal played some role." I meant outcomes such as where a fringe general in the USSR felt it was a legitimate threat requiring a first strike, or an unmanaged collapse lead to dissemination and use of nuclear weapons. Basically, a successful policy can easily become a Pyrrhic victory. But this is interesting information, thanks for sharing it.