Scary guys with nukes

Make even the land of Hitler nervous:

A former defence minister has provoked outrage and broken a major taboo by suggesting that Germany should have its own nuclear arsenal.

Rupert Scholz argued that Berlin needed to embrace the idea of a nuclear deterrent in the light of threats from terrorists and the Middle East.

"We need to ask ourselves how we could react in an appropriate manner to a nuclear threat from a terror state, and if needs be, even by using our own nuclear weapons," he said.

Mr Scholz, 68, who was the defence minister in Helmut Kohl's government in 1988 and 1989, said he doubted whether other nations' guarantees, made during the Cold War, to keep Germany safe in the face of a nuclear threat, could still be trusted.

"Without the appropriate guarantees of protection by our partners, the question of our own nuclear deterrent needs to be discussed openly," he said.

"I am aware that I am addressing a taboo. But in the light of the dangers that weapons of mass destruction could end up in the hands of terrorists, this is a question which deserves serious debate."

He forgot to add, 'Especially since we're committed to annoying the one country that could provide that guarantee'.