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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russia Warns Border Strife May Trigger Nuclear War
2011-11-17
I believe the purpose of this statement is quite different in the context of the mutual defense agreement with Iran. The important sentence in the article is this one:

"The nation's military doctrine says it may use nuclear weapons to counter a nuclear attack on Russia or an ally ..."

I believe Russia might be raising awareness that it has the potential to nuke someone who attacks an ally and might not respond with conventional forces.
What if it's a conventional attack instead of nuclear? Would Russia respond then? After all, they did nothing after Israel destroyed Syria's nuclear facility a few years ago...
Posted by:crosspatch

#3  I think we are going to be facing a similar issue with the scaling back of our conventional forces. Someone attacks us, what the hell, just nuke 'em. Much cheaper than attempting to go the "proportional response" mode.

When the Taliban didn't give up bin Laden, we should probably have simply dropped three nukes, one on Kabul, one on Kandahar, and one on Jalalabad, and been done with it. Whole war over in about 30 minutes.

Basically what the Russians are saying is "mess with us or an ally and we might just nuke you".

Also, I don't believe Russia had the sort of mutual defense treaty with Syria that they have with Iran. They negotiated that treaty with Iran specifically to deter an attack on Iran's nuclear program:

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IJ26Ak06.html
Posted by: crosspatch   2011-11-17 23:48  

#2  "First make sure you're right, then go ahead."
-Davy Crockett

Bluster from a washed up and still very 'upset about it' former superpower.
Posted by: bigjim-CA   2011-11-17 20:13  

#1  Offer them compensation for nuke industry losses, and anything goes. But having Goof One in the White House doesn't help.
Posted by: Elmetle Splat4589   2011-11-17 17:57  

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