WASHINGTON DC: Russian President Vladimir Putin’s willingness to threaten to use nuclear weapons is, in one respect, a good sign: It means that Russia is probably losing in Ukraine.
It is also a potentially catastrophic one. If Putin’s aim is to scare the West, he is failing. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) keeps stepping up its supplies to Ukraine.
The question is what he would do if he thought Russian defeat was inescapable. Putin keeps implying he knows exactly what steps he would take. Is he bluffing? It is plausible that even he does not know the answer.
Either way, the genie is out of the bottle. Putin has broken a post-Cuba taboo on threatening to go nuclear. That, in itself, puts us in new territory. Without most people being aware of it, the world is entering its most dangerous period since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
THREAT OF NUCLEAR WAR HIGHEST SINCE COLD WAR
The majority of those under the age of 50 have grown up thinking that the nuclear spectre is a relic of the last century. In the past few weeks, the prospect of a nuclear exchange has become the most live threat to this century’s peace.
In terms of public awareness, the debate about Putin’s language is a good example of “those who don’t know talk, and those who know don’t talk”. It is easy to think of Putin as a poker addict trying to bluster his way out of a bad bet.
Eventually, he must fold. United States civilian and military officials suffer from no such complacency. Many have taken part in war game exercises where the use of low-yie ..
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