This is the only approach that works and won the US the Cold War. A credible threat that if the USSR dared to use nukes, NATO would use nukes against the USSR

This is the only approach that works and won the US the Cold War. A credible threat that if the USSR dared to use nukes, NATO would use nukes against the USSR. Do you think Putin is a genious and it didn't cross other USSR leaders minds the same idea -- "surely, the USA would not use nukes again us if we used just a few nukes against a weaker NATO member"? The only sane answer is to absolutely make sure the other guy knows you're going to use nukes the second they use them. Macron's retort to Putin needs to be shouted from the rooftops -- we also have nukes, you're not that special.