Isaac Asimov’s Nine Tomorrows had a story where aliens were watching earth during the cold war. They were waiting for us to blow ourselves up so they could swoop in and “save” us after the fact. For a price (resources mostly.) Funny enough, they were getting frustrated with us for not “getting on with it already!” Apparently we’re the only species in the story to discover nuclear weapons and not blow ourselves to kingdom come.
I think it was meant to be a criticism of the U.N. It’s been a long time since I read it.
