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Putin Changing Russia’s Nuclear Doctrine Like Rearranging Deck Chairs on the Titanic

Wednesday, November 20, 2024 at 6:39 AM
Written by Anthony L. Hall

Kim threatens nukes to beg for bread Putin to instill fear instead One wields nukes to strike a deal The other to flaunt his strongman zeal

Putin’s nuclear threats mask conventional weakness

Every time Putin plays his nuclear card, he seems so delusional he might think Russia is the only country with nukes. Who does he think he’s scaring? Putin’s war in Ukraine has weakened Russia so much that, like North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, he resorts to hollow nuclear threats in a desperate bid to project strength.

But wait, it’s even worse. Recall that Putin launched his “Special Military Operation” to reclaim Russian dominion over Ukraine and eventually all former Soviet Union satellite states. Yet, nearly three years later, Ukrainian resistance has so battered Russian forces that this once-mighty superpower is now depending on lowly North Korea for weapons and soldiers.

Depending on North Korea backfires

But soliciting help from North Korea is just another of Putin’s miscalculations. Because it provided justification for Biden to finally grant Ukraine permission to use US weapons to bomb Russia the way Russia has been bombing Ukraine. And mind you, this is just the latest example of Biden’s dithering strategy for helping Ukraine, which has amounted to Chinese water torture.

Still, a small measure of justice would be Ukraine blowing up energy facilities in Russia, denying Russians heat this winter – just as Russia has done to Ukrainians for the past two winters…

Trump to the rescue?

Far too much is being made of Putin banking on Trump’s fateful reelection to save his hide. Because, even if Trump ends US support, as everyone expects, the president of France is staking his legacy of rallying EU nations to compensate enough to help Ukraine fend off Russian advances.

That means stalemate and a negotiated peace in due course, which Trump will inevitably take credit for.

Putin threatening nukes in Ukraine with images of Biden and Zelensky

Mutual Assured Destruction

In any case, the concept of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) has worked for over 70 years and will continue to. So, US and Western nuclear powers should limit their response to Putin’s nuclear threats by simply stating:

  • We have nukes too. And our nuclear doctrine remains the same: Any use of nukes will trigger a response that could end in Armageddon.

Checkmate!