8/16/2023 0 Comments Putin thanks for nuclear time memMoscow has threatened nuclear attacks before without following through and, weeks after making his “not a bluff” statement, Putin said Russia has no plans to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. It seems certain to harden international opposition to Russia’s war in the West and could even lead the United States to conduct punitive military strikes for the first time. After all, it is not clear that using tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine would hand Putin the battlefield success he seeks, and it could lead to revulsion among countries, like China and India, that have thus far not joined efforts to isolate Moscow. This may all be nothing more than the rhetorical saber-rattling of a military losing in Ukraine and seeking to change the dynamic. Russian officials have spoken openly about the need for the country’s forces be ready to fight in a radioactive environment. ![]() Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has called his counterparts to warn, without evidence, of a potential plot by Kyiv to detonate a “dirty bomb.” Foreign observers, including top American, British, and French officials, have interpreted the calls as a signal that Moscow might explode a radioactive bomb itself and blame Ukraine. Putin escalated his war of aggression by publicly ordering nuclear forces to go on alert (it is not clear that they ever did) and then renewed his nuclear threats months later in the face of battlefield setbacks. Russia’s threats have rightly garnered the greatest attention. But the return of nuclear arms as a potentially major instrument of foreign policy means that decisions made now may well shape our world for decades to come. The taboo against the use of nuclear weapons in combat has remained in place since 1945 for a very good reason: Their destructive power, and the potential for escalatory effects, remains unparalleled. Today the chances of nuclear use remain low, but they are higher than before the Russian invasion, and possibly higher than at any time since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. But as Cold War-era anxieties faded from memory, so too did the fear of nuclear weapons retreat from the public mind. Nuclear weapons never went away, of course, and have remained a critical element of national security policymaking for decades. In 2020, candidate Joe Biden pledged to reduce the role nuclear weapons play in the country’s national security policy, reserving them for the sole purpose of deterring a nuclear attack. nuclear capabilities but employed high-stakes diplomacy aimed at inducing North Korea to give up its own. His successor Donald Trump pursued an expansion of U.S. His administration’s Nuclear Security Summits, held from 2010 to 2016, aimed to increase the security of nuclear materials and decrease the chances of their use, by governments or terrorist organizations. A little more than a decade ago, President Barack Obama articulated an expansive vision of a nuclear-free world. The world’s most destructive weapons are suddenly back on the minds of the world’s most powerful leaders. Even Chinese President Xi Jinping declared that “the international community should … jointly oppose the use or threats to use nuclear weapons,” despite China’s “ no limits” partnership with Russia. ![]() ![]() The Biden administration is publicly warning that “catastrophic consequences for Russia” would follow any use of nuclear arms, and Biden himself has said that the explosion of a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine could end in Armageddon. ![]() Vladimir Putin’s saber-rattling-“this is not a bluff” he said, warning of nuclear use in Ukraine-has sparked concern across multiple continents. Nuclear weapons are back, and in a disturbingly visceral way.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |