The countries most likely to use the nucs.
Pakistan and India.
China and US
Russia.
Since the end of the cold war, people have been more concerned with education, taxes and housing prices... and other things... MAD was not one of the thoughts in peoples minds.
Most nuclear launches are controlled by a set of different people, so no one person can set off a nuclear war, with the nuclear winter (lasting years) which will kill off most things that survive a nuclear confrontation....
Right now the world is changing, US is slowly becoming #2 power in the world, with China rising quickly to #1, not in terms of military, but in terms of economy and manufacturing. This gives China the money to buy a military and put assets into place in orbit.
StarWars - Anakin I have the high ground.....
These are some positive thoughts to get you through you fall. Although I always look at fall as the changing/renewing of the seasons. Life seems to run in cycles....