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Why are you so certain that Putin will order nuclear armageddon?
by mysecretaccount 5y ago
Why are you so certain that Putin will order nuclear armageddon?
- javajosh 5y agoThe odds of ordering nuclear Armageddon are quite different from ordering a limited nuclear strike to show them you mean business and to deter further intervention. The Russians might opt to nuke a carrier. Or a small city. Putin is explicitly holding the world hostage at nuclear knife-point, and you let him take your wallet, let him slice off a finger (Crimea). Now, the nuclear thug shoots you in the arm and nukes a town. What do you do? Do you allow them to mutilate you because if you don't you'll be in a struggle where you could both easily die? Or do you choose to resist, and risk death, because they are going to take more and more of you anyway? As long as the nuclear bully refrains from this behavior, it's all good. Once he starts it though, we're in a new era of nuclear risk. I hope that all of our governments have explicit, mechanical contingencies in place to react to a limited nuclear strike, and that immediate escalation is NOT standard operating procedure. But what is the proportional response for the US if Russia nukes a small city in Western Ukraine? I have no idea. This is all really very terrible and we'll be lucky to get out of it without at least one town glowing in the dark.
- imbnwa 5y agoWouldn't nuking a small city in Ukraine also affect Russia physically?