October 17, 2022

Putin's nuclear button: Mercifully more complex.

Warm, fuzzy reading, hoping the writer is right.

https://spectator.com.au/2022/10/the-misconception-about-putins-big-red-nuclear-button/

Cornered Putin losing Ukraine gamble. (Cartoon courtesy Spectator)
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

There's also the possibility that Putin could be replaced by someone even more extreme:

https://news.yahoo.com/putin-overthrown-replaced-someone-even-worse-sir-alex-younger-083732732.html

Pete said...

Thanks Anonymous @Oct 18, 2022, 2:40:00 AM

For https://news.yahoo.com/putin-overthrown-replaced-someone-even-worse-sir-alex-younger-083732732.html

Yes, a Kremlin "coup" could install a an even worse rightwing extremist than Putin.

Someone prepared to use chemical/poison gas weapons or a small nuke over Kyiv - that might kill Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky.

Another nasty Russian act might be to intentionally explode the fission materials in Ukraine's large Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant into the atmosphere - a huge dirty bomb. The reactors could be "undermined" by multi-tonne conventional explosives drilled/placed under the reactors. This intentional act cannot be nullified by the usual shut down mechanisms of a nuclear plant. More see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaporizhzhia_Nuclear_Power_Plant#2022_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine

Anonymous said...

Going nuclear ‘anything’ will be a huge thing for Russia and it will effectively commit them to an escalation ladder with dangerous or even catastrophic consequences.

If I was putin and I really felt totally and utterly cornered with no off ramp of any sort, then I would be rolling out MIRVed Sarmat ICBMs. If that day arrives humanity will surely fight WW IV with sticks and stones πŸ™‚
GhalibKabir

Pete said...

You be true GhalibKabir

Your "MIRVed Sarmat ICBMs" panacea would solve so much.

No more Earthlings so no more Covid.

Population growth resolved in a day.

No more Global Warming as Nuclear Winter would exist for millennia if not eons.

πŸ™‚πŸ™‚πŸ™‚πŸ™‚πŸ™‚πŸ™‚πŸ™‚πŸ™‚πŸ™‚πŸ™‚πŸ™‚πŸ™‚πŸ™‚

But light humour aside - I think the Russians have planned several failed operations to assassinate Zelensky. Sooner or later an operation might succeed. Infighting in the Ukrainian leadership remaining might then collapse Ukrainian resistance.

Alternatively continued Russia reversals might bring the death of Putin and with that Russia might see the light towards peace.