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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Yes, Russia could use nuclear weapons |
| 2022-03-02 |
| [Spectator World] Nuclear war is part of our strategic culture. Yes, we would start one if our homeland, our way of life, was threatened, absolutely. Why wouldn’t we?" That’s what a retired Russian diplomat told me on the sidelines of a track-two dialogue between US, Russian and Chinese experts back in 2012. And to be honest, for several years, I didn’t believe him. I took his comments as bragging, atomic machismo, if you will. The context of the conversation was a response to a question to my Russian colleague on the subject of Moscow’s nuclear weapons doctrine and thinking. Russia for several years has believed in the concept of escalating nuclear tensions to deescalate tensions, or what defense scholars call "escalate to deescalate." |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #34 Mutually assured destruction doctrine was abandoned by Clinton? I think. |
| Posted by: Woodrow 2022-03-02 13:11 |
| #33 Stop trying for coups in other countries Depose your own foolish dictator and seize your own oligarchs loot |
| Posted by: Pliny Hupineting6606 2022-03-02 12:37 |
| #32 We have much in common with the Russian people. We both love peace but are led by evil sociopaths cheered on by wealthy oligarchs and corrupt political machines. Hear, hear!!! |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2022-03-02 12:23 |
| #31 Joe wouldn't even get a chance to surrender. Darth Lunch and Milley would beat him to it. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-03-02 12:17 |
| #30 If Stalin had had nukes to use against Nazi Germany, he absolutely would have. Can't imagine Putin ever getting pushed that far, even far enough to use tactical nukes. Who would do that kind of pushing? Joe Biden? |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2022-03-02 12:14 |
| #29 Nuking anything outside of Ukraine ensures Armageddon. It might happen, but if it does game over. So only fools would seriously consider that and Putin is not a fool. |
| Posted by: ruprecht 2022-03-02 11:56 |
| #28 Tucker Carlson: "Much of the information about the war that you are ingesting uncritically has in fact been curated by the tech monopolies & yes by the intel agencies by the time it reaches your iPhone." |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-03-02 11:45 |
| #27 ^ that's the point. It just escalates. Why wait. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2022-03-02 11:27 |
| #26 Whoever said anything about nuking Ukraine? |
| Posted by: Cthulhu of Ryleh 2022-03-02 11:12 |
| #25 Have some morbid fun. NUKEMAP Pick a City Choose your yield or listed Nuclear weapon. Choose air or surface detention |
| Posted by: NN2N1 2022-03-02 10:58 |
| #24 Russia will not nuke because the crops in Ukraine feed Russia and I'm not sure anyone is confident enough in precision and winds and all that to be that stupid. Russia is making itself into Somalia if they aren't careful. Russia is also waking the west up from our Woke nightmare. At least it seems that way. |
| Posted by: ruprecht 2022-03-02 10:11 |
| #23 Either the US backs down and agrees to the terms Lutin laid down, or Kyiv goes the way of Grozny By the way, Russia already has achieved one of its two main goals, with its victories in the south to Krym - so US doesn't even have to concede that one |
| Posted by: Omerens Jimp6045 2022-03-02 10:08 |
| #22 Yes, Russia could use nuclear weapons But they won't. It is a threat, a warning that things could escalate savagely should NATO decide to get involved. Don't even think about smoking that fat juicy convoy sitting there! The way everyone is freaking out suggests the threat is a good one. Think of this like a chess game: maneuvers and threats. This is the threaty part. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2022-03-02 09:56 |
| #21 And everybody who can will then go nuclear. And once they get them, they'll never give them up (see Ukraine and Libya). |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2022-03-02 09:32 |
| #20 Nobody is turning anybody into North Korea. The US postured over Afghanistan for twenty years, every week reporting how the Taliban were going to be soon ash. It launched its sons at the desert while maintaining back channels propping up the islamics for years. The credibility of such posturing is a joke. It's still buying from Russia and refuses to stop. The US can only apply sanctions, overtly harass small economies who deal with Russia, a kind of cancel culture with implications for entire populations. But it cannot ensure anything. Because it cannot ensure its own stability in the next two years, especially if it continues to entertain Africans and islamics and psychologically unwell people with jobs in policy making. People who are cheering on the SWIFT denial, the sanctions and embargoes are actually envious of societies that do not have these problems because they did not entertain social justice cancel tactics. Russia is a macroscopic example of what they can do to any free individual trying to assert himself, since they're treating a whole population now as an individual. But Putin will not let this happen. The threat is very real. Mutually assured destruction. He cannot reply with the economic option, he has only one option. What you can bet on is that he won't back down. Nor will some altruist commander step up to avert everything like in the movies. The idea that 'everything will be alright... probably' is not something a sane society entertains. A sane society expects their leaders to deliberate, weigh their actions instead of gambling with their fates. The only beneficiaries of this will be the New World Order finaglers sitting in their wicker chairs and reminiscing how they sold out Jews to Hitler's finest. Even if both super powers almost destroy each other, their experiment will still proceed this time with less friction. |
| Posted by: Cthulhu of Ryleh 2022-03-02 09:06 |
| #19 That's the Anti-Americans. They're also the same people who built up _Russia_ at the expense of the real Americans who were making their own oil. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2022-03-02 08:53 |
| #18 We can be independent again by removing those artificial restrictions. Already happening. Joe just can't shout, er, mumble and mis=pronounce it from the rooftops, or what little is left of his base will slip away. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-03-02 08:48 |
| #17 We've been through this before. Something about the 70s calling. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2022-03-02 08:46 |
| #16 So bleeding obvious to anyone not brainwashed by west's propaganda - end of dollar dominance. It's already starting, like a clockwork. Headlines today: "China refuses to join sanctions against Russia" "How the Russia-Ukraine War Threatens the Dollar's Dominance Credit Suisse strategist tells Bloomberg's Odd Lots podcast that the U.S. dollar has reached a critical inflection point. " https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-02/will-russia-s-ruble-go-gold-backed-ukraine-war-to-impact-us-dollar-dominance?srnd=premium |
| Posted by: Ulimble Turkeyneck4046 2022-03-02 08:43 |
| #15 Let's take a look. North Korean invaded South Korea in a full planned military operation. No limited incursion but a full invasion. It justified itself as historical unification of a common people. As for oil, we were energy independent till the crooks fixed an election and then by decree set the import of oil in place again. We can be independent again by removing those artificial restrictions. Notice what the German's just did in turning around their energy policies. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2022-03-02 08:38 |
| #14 Oh really? America gets 21% of its oil imports from North Korea? Russia is not some tiny little hermit kingdom. Russia's oil and gas and minerals are essential to global economy. You built up China - why nobody knows... and now you've made India Russia and China join together to oppose the West. You're just punishing yourselves and ruining your own position in the world. Why are you doing this? |
| Posted by: Slirong Gravigum7506 2022-03-02 08:32 |
| #13 None of this talk of tactical nukes skeers us, buddy. We have US congresscreatures (looking at you, Swallwell) threatening to use US nukes on US citizens. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-03-02 08:26 |
| #12 No, Russia is turning Russia into North Korea. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2022-03-02 08:25 |
| #11 The US are trying to turn Russia into North Korea. Unlike North Korea, Russia knows how to launch tactical nuclear missiles to destroy battlefield targets. Those targets are not 10000 kilometers away from Russia across an ocean. The targets are in Russia's own ancestral homeland where it has fought two great wars, a civil war and a war with Poland during last 100 years. What do Americans think they are doing? Why are they doing this? We didn't hear anything at all from your president today about why you are pursuing such mad policies in a matter that has nothing to do with you.. why are you trying to make Russia another North Korea? What is in your heads? |
| Posted by: Captain Snirt3489 2022-03-02 08:22 |
| #10 Every simulation" is just that, a simulation. In the age of woke, I shudder to imagine what the US simulations are like... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-03-02 08:06 |
| #9 "Every simulation" is just that, a simulation. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2022-03-02 07:59 |
| #8 Do I think he is backed into a corner enough to use them? Yes. I do not think he is foolish enough to use ICBMs. He does have tactical nukes and I think those are on the table. Lets not confuse his willingness to use them with the question of if its a smart move. Because its not. Second, bombing civilian targets is a bad move and now he is doing it and is more than willing to torch civilians to get his way. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2022-03-02 07:56 |
| #7 We have much in common with the Russian people. We both love peace but are led by evil sociopaths cheered on by wealthy oligarchs and corrupt political machines. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2022-03-02 06:50 |
| #6 If he uses it on the Ukraine and gets a non-reponse, why not elsewhere? By default you say its OK. Given that his conventional military is not up to the job, it will become the first option when dealing with neighbors. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2022-03-02 06:25 |
| #5 WW2 ended in Mutual Assured Destruction? No? What if Russia only nukes Ukraine and then asks the EU: "Do you feel lucky?" I agree that this a very risky gambit to indulge in. Between two nuclear powers with 2nd strike capabilities. WW2 included only one nuclear power. If Russia nukes Ukraine, no skin off our nose. But that would be dangerous for Putin personally. It would invite one-way assassination missions by people with kin in Ukraine. What's left of Ukraine would be ungovernable. Any puppet ruler he placed in there would face assassination*. And it would mean a total embargo by the West and probably most of the world, given that *any* company that broke the embargo would probably lose its business in the West. Think Huawei and Iran. Russia would become an oversized North Korea, but worse. * Look up the UPA resistance movement in the post-WW2 era, at a time only a smallish minority of Ukrainians participated in anti-Soviet activity. 200K rebels died, after killing tens of thousands of Soviet commissars and other functionaries. After a nuclear attack? I wouldn't be surprised if the puppet ruler communicated by Zoom video conference inside Russia proper. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2022-03-02 06:07 |
| #4 I'm skeptical. Every simulation that starts with nukes ends with mutual annihilation. WW2 ended in Mutual Assured Destruction? No? What if Russia only nukes Ukraine and then asks the EU: "Do you feel lucky?" I agree that this a very risky gambit to indulge in. |
| Posted by: magpie 2022-03-02 05:18 |
| #3 Non-strategic Nukular Weapons. No such animal. Every simulation ends in mutual annihilation. Because the first mover wins. And Putin knows it. Because people like him order these simulations. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2022-03-02 04:44 |
| #2 Non-strategic Nukular Weapons. Those will demonstrate intent, without giving NATO the justification to cross the threshold, and shall establish dominance when most of Ukranian forces give up. I pray God it doesn't come to that though and some clever people can find a way to Putin an out. His back to the wall, who knows what an over-the-hill ex-KGB mackerel eyed sonofoabitch would do? |
| Posted by: Dron66046 2022-03-02 04:26 |
| #1 I'm skeptical. Every simulation that starts with nukes ends with mutual annihilation. Putin knows this. He has kids. Grandchildren. A historical legacy. Won't have one if the Chinese take over an empty Russia. Heck, it will be as if Russia had never existed, let alone Putin. You think Chinese history mentions all the tribes absorbed, let alone those that went extinct *before* they annexed their lands? |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2022-03-02 04:15 |