I don't really understand all the talk about Putin using a "nuclear" weapon on Ukraine

That seems really stupid tactically to me, Putin appears to have sold this as a war of liberation/denazification to his citizens, so nuking the country seems like it's a non-starter. If Putin decides to use a weapon of mass destruction, chemical weapons seems far more likely and bring with it a lot of plausible deniability (eg it could be blamed on terrorists). But even that seems highly unnecessary, Russia already has the means to disrupt the energy, export, food production and water supplies of most of the country, they could preserve the infrastructure and make the urban areas unlivable with strikes targeting power stations, ports, water treatment, dams, railroads, heck even a cyber strike might accomplish the same goals - going to weapons of mass destruction just doesn't seem like it'd make sense in comparison

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Northwest · M

The threat is designed for an internal audience, specifically the "nationalist" crowd that's been fed bullshit galore. He needs them cheering him on, to keep his war going.

I was to be shocked at how many people in the US believe a nuclear exchange can be won, but when you ask a few questions, they have no clue what fallout is, what a nuclear winter is, and that the main superpowers designed doomsday systems, that will obliterate the enemy, even if themselves have been obliterated.

Same thing goes for KJU, who keeps threatening to go on the nuclear offensive. It's all for internal consumtion.

The only possible move in a nuclear warm is to not do it.

plungesponge · 41-45, M

@Northwest Yes and a bunch of other things that Russia, Europe and the US have done seem to show they don't want to start world war three.

I have a theory a lot of politicians in Europe are waiting to see if Italy ends up with a pro Russian government that undermines the sanctions, at which point they can put all the blame on Italy as an excuse to go back to regular business. I could understand Europe not wanting an escalation of war, but the slow preparations for energy shortages suggests to me they don't expect the current situation to last