He always meant it. Putin flirts again with grim prospect of nuclear war – this time he might mean it
Putin has always been serious about nuclear war. I'm not sure what he could have said differently to convince these analysts and journalists of that. "Nuclear war is unthinkable" has NEVER been a thing in Russia. Not in the Soviet Union. Not today.
The message from Vladimir Putin’s ominous morning speech, which marked the biggest escalation of the Ukraine war since the invasion on 24 February, was clear: Russia is willing to use nuclear weapons if Ukraine continues its offensive operations.
While the longtime Russian leader has previously flirted with the grim prospect of using nuclear weapons, experts say his latest statements went further, raising fears around the world of an unprecedented nuclear disaster.
Still, maybe if the journalists start to believe it, then the average man in the street might start to believe it. Not that anyone will do anything, because they don't believe there is anything they can do to prepare, or indeed that there is any reason to prepare.
If you live in Manhattan, you are probably screwed. If you live in Buffalo, NY not so much. And if you live in a less-likely to be targeted part of the country, well, you should at least think about the aftermath of a limited nuclear exchange.
Why on earth do you assume it will be "limited"?
ReplyDeleteNaked optimism?
If you don't consider the possibility of a limited exchange, then you will probably die when you don't need to
DeleteIf you think about the possibility of a nuclear exchange, and it turns out you die in the short term after the war starts, then having prepared for a limited exchange cost you nothing in the long term
And actually the point of the post is mostly "The Russians have never considered nuclear war to be winnable" is a mistake that most Americans make. Russians have been preparing for nuclear war - almost nonstop - since the 1950s. (They stopped building bomb and fallout shelters for a few years after the fall of the Soviet Union, but started up again after a few years.)
Delete