And also, both sides don't exactly follow MAD: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credible_minimum_deterrence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credible_minimum_deterre

And also, both sides don't exactly follow MAD: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credible_minimum_deterrence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credible_minimum_deterrence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimal_deterrence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimal_deterrence Basically, it's not "I can glass your whole country" but more "I can nuke a few of your main cities, you will survive but it will hurt". Mostly, only the USA and Russia can follow MAD, the other nuclear powers with a few hundreds warheads, follow Minimal Deterrence.