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Starting in the late 1980s and early 1990s, conventional munitions became a real alternative to tactical nuclear weapons in roles such as bunker busting (bunker buster bombs), destruction of massed armor forces (cluster bombs), and destruction of hardened targets (precision guided munitions). Precision guidance and miniaturization was also being implemented on strategic nuclear weapons, and the old "city killer" multi-megaton warheads were being phased out of service. In addition to changing technology, the political situation was changing as well, with several nuclear arms treaties being signed between the Soviet Union and United States, including the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

Given the changing technological and political circumstances seen towards the end of the Cold War, what role would nuclear weapons have played in a continued Cold War? What would have been the response to the South African nuclear program if/when revealed, as well as the ambitions of India, Pakistan, and other nations?
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