Post 1945, what country could become as much as a threat as Nazi Germany?

By "threat", I mean they have enough WMD's that nobody directly invades and attacks them, they have some geopolitical allies across the globe like the Axis, they actually are a stable state that will lasts for decades like North Korea,but stronger and scarier, etc. At most they could become a third superpower, at least they are a regional power that despite horrendous human rights abuse or other ghastliness, nobody not even the USA wants to touch it ,at least too much, by the present day. Ideally, they shouldn't be an American or Soviet ally, but they could start out as one before spiraling into a beast of a nation as their control over it erodes over time.
 
China easily. India has a serious potential. France could easily go nasty. Indonesia is probably an option regionally.
 

Minty_Fresh

Banned
Rogue Red China is probably what I am thinking could be worst. Sort of like The Gumbo TL Red China bad, with a constant Cultural Revolution on steroids that helps fuel an expansionist China to seek to "liberate" other parts of Asia and bring all the joys of Mao's Great Leap Forward to everyone they can.

Possibly an Iran that tries to form the Shiite Crescent by force and succeeds, and gets nukes in the process. Sort of ASB, however, as the Russians would pinch them from the North mercilessly if they tried that.

I guess the only other idea I can think of would be a state secured by the Western security blanket but that takes a really awful and expansionist turn, like a Algerian-Putsch led France that tries to end decolonization by force or if somehow Israel falls to the Meir Kahane and tries to complete its vision of a revisionist state to the Euphrates. These would no longer be US allies but would benefit from its protection as they get rolling while having the nukes to keep away any threats.
 
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I guess the only other idea I can think of would be a state secured by the Western security blanket but that takes a really awful and expansionist turn

Hmm, one could go on a limb and say Turkey if they go bad in a big way in the future. Not likely, but following the line of thought above.
 
Let's start by reviewing the list of nations that have - or had - nuclear weapons: mainland China, France, Great Britain, Iraq, Iran, Israel, North Korea, South Africa, Ukraine, USA and USSR. A few other Soviet satellites may have had nuclear weapons stationed on their soil, but never bragged about WMD.

Similarly, Canada had American nuclear weapons stationed on three or more CF bases, but the average Canadian voter remained ignorant.

The second question is which nation was most likely to launch nuclear weapons? Both Israel and South Africa planned to detonate their A bombs if invaded.
 
2 fun candidates and a scenario:

Psycho China (i.e. Entrenched Maoism instead of Deng's reforms)
A genocidal, nuclear-armed India that Apartheids (and worse) Pakistan after a sudden takeover, placing non-Hindus beneath the Untouchables
An Iran that spirals out of control.

Here's a scary hypo:

Suez really sours France on positive relations with the US
Vietnam also really sours France and leads them to much more brutally repress Algeria.
They retain Algeria and it becomes a symbol of the worst excesses of colonial repression
Becoming a bit of a pariah, they establish close ties with Israel and South Africa.
In recognizing shared interests, they share significant nuclear technology with both to a far more overt and aggressive degree.
 
It's not exactly what was asked for but I've always liked the Circle Trigonists:
At the close of World War 11 in 1945 the chaotic conditions in Western Europe, which resulted from fundamental dis-agreements between the victorious allied nations and the failure of the United Nations Organization, gave rise to a new nation, Aggressor.
When the surrender of Germany was followed almost immediately by wholesale allied withdrawals, a small group of determined men, con-firmed in their belief in the totalitarian nation-state, gathered in Spain,took over the control of the weakening government, and established the Aggressor Republic.That this action was possible was due primarily to quarrels that broke out among- the former allies, a disinclination on the part of any one nation to accept the responsibility for the direct physical action necessary to suppress this new group, and finally the clever use of propaganda and slogans which freely used the terms "democracy," "the people," and other similar terms.As soon as the new government had firmly consolidated its position in Spain and Spanish Morocco, it began to infiltrate to the north and east..A fertile field for their well planned and executed propaganda was found in southern France, northern Italy, Bavaria, and the Tyrol, where United States occupational forces were rapidly being redeployed. A strong secession movement grew almost overnight in those areas which the weakened central governments of France and Italy and the ineffective provisional government of Bavaria were powerless to prevent. The natural revulsion of these peoples toward communism asserted itself and provided a strong psychological weapon for the organizers. All races and classes were appealed to.e. After a brief but violent uprising in early 1946, aided and c6n-trolled from the Aggressor capital by means of a highly trained fifth column, these two areas were granted independence, promptly applied for union with Aggressor, and were admitted to the Republic.
Immediately upon the successful conclusion of this venture, Aggressor entered upon a well-balanced and carefully controlled period of intense development and organization of all resources and phases of national life. The immediate goal of national unity and relative self-sufficiency was quickly obtained. In contrast to its neighbors, Aggressor was reasonably prosperous and its people happy and contented with the new government which started fulfilling its initial promises. Of course, one distinct advantage enjoyed by the new nation was that the bulk of its lands had escaped the destruction of war which had so severely impaired the national economy of other European nations. Aggressor was in a peculiar position in the world, as her able leaders had foreseen. Initially backed in secret by the western allied powers as a buffer against the Slavic nations and communism, Aggressor was even more secretly supported by the Comintern as an acceptable vehicle for the spread of communism through-out Catholic Europe and as a buffer to the wealthy western allies. Aggressor was engaged in a race against time. She must be a well established power when the dull and war-weary former allies realized her true ambition and organized to put her down. Her leaders believed that she must strike before that day. Her blow must be against the most powerful na-tion. While she was doing so the others must be kept placated. The nation to be struck must not be allowed to reach her offensive potential in order to lead the strike against the new nation.

[US Army Field Manual 30-102: Historical Outline]

Basically the period after WW2 goes differently and much of Western Europe goes 'soft' Fascist.
Trigon.gif
 

Ryan

Donor
Let's start by reviewing the list of nations that have - or had - nuclear weapons: mainland China, France, Great Britain, Iraq, Iran, Israel, North Korea, South Africa, Ukraine, USA and USSR. A few other Soviet satellites may have had nuclear weapons stationed on their soil, but never bragged about WMD.

Similarly, Canada had American nuclear weapons stationed on three or more CF bases, but the average Canadian voter remained ignorant.

The second question is which nation was most likely to launch nuclear weapons? Both Israel and South Africa planned to detonate their A bombs if invaded.

When did they ever have nukes? (outside of bush's imagination)
 
What about nuclear armed Pakistan being taken over by the Islamic State?
Ehhh... Not sure how that would happen, but lets say that Pakistan does get taken over by ISIS. That would freak out both China and India, and ISIS would proceed to get roflstompted with or without nukes.
 
Let's start by reviewing the list of nations that have - or had - nuclear weapons: mainland China, France, Great Britain, Iraq, Iran, Israel, North Korea, South Africa, Ukraine, USA and USSR. A few other Soviet satellites may have had nuclear weapons stationed on their soil, but never bragged about WMD.

Similarly, Canada had American nuclear weapons stationed on three or more CF bases, but the average Canadian voter remained ignorant.

The second question is which nation was most likely to launch nuclear weapons? Both Israel and South Africa planned to detonate their A bombs if invaded.

Iraq and Iran only had chemical and biological weapons. They never had nukes.
 
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