Yeah, but this way you get to make sure your intended target actually gets hit instead of assuming the following nuclear wastwland would destroy your target like everything else.
It's like the Martyrdom perk in fps games. You die and drop a grenade or c4 pack or something and explode, hopefully taking out the person who killed you.
It's just a dead-man switch to get the AD part of MAD.
Effective? Maybe.
Incredibly stupid? Yes.
Is that stopping the US and Russia from doing it? Lolno we invented this dumb shit.
The world is run by insane people who would rather see the planet scorched into a lifeless rock than admit their way of doing things might be wrong.
nobody should have nuclear weapons.
Sometimes I wonder what the world would be like if the scientists working on the Manhattan project had all agreed it's too much and intentionally sabotage every test.