This is a criticism of the nuclear arms race and the principle of Mutually Assured Destruction ("the bigger the weapon, the greater the fear"). While those on one side (eg, the West) feared the arsenal of the other side (eg, the USSR), this song asks them to examine their own arsenal, identically deadly ("hyena's sister look to your hand"), and points out the immorality of a weapon that would kill civilians ("why you'd hurt a beautiful young lady").
A hyena (an ugly, aggressive animal) is chosen as a metaphor for one side... and the other.
This is a criticism of the nuclear arms race and the principle of Mutually Assured Destruction ("the bigger the weapon, the greater the fear"). While those on one side (eg, the West) feared the arsenal of the other side (eg, the USSR), this song asks them to examine their own arsenal, identically deadly ("hyena's sister look to your hand"), and points out the immorality of a weapon that would kill civilians ("why you'd hurt a beautiful young lady").
A hyena (an ugly, aggressive animal) is chosen as a metaphor for one side... and the other.