I personally don’t think that a dictator like Putin would throw the lives of millions of Russians away over a lost misadventure he took in Ukraine.
If he launched one nuke at any NATO member all bets would be off.Not only does the U.S. have a Nuclear force but the French and the British also have one and they may be more than willing to retaliate in the event of a nuclear detonation somewhere. I’m certain that they would be badgering the U.S. to do the same.
Hopefully the Russians haven’t forgot the theory of Mutually Assured Destruction.
If Putin Blows up a Ukraine army in Donbass with a low yield battlefield nuke, I doubt if NATO will blow up any Russian Cities nor would the NeoCons in the USA—No one wins a Nuke War. Putin will give warnings but—he will up the crisis in a slow, measured way. Time is on Putin’s side, and he knows it.
Everyone thinks we have the winning hand.
But if Putin used tactical nukes in Ukraine, a non-nato nation, would our side respond with a missile attack directly on Russia?
I don’t think we would. Doing so would assure our own destruction, as well as theirs. We might attack with conventional weapons, but we would not respond with a nuclear attack.
What if it was just ONE nuke, delivered via shipping container to Berlin, for example? USA, UK, or France going to launch and suffer the full return Russian salvo?
Hopefully the Russians haven’t forgot the theory of Mutually Assured Destruction.
—
That’s why they have bomb shelters for the entire population ... or St Petes and Moscow - everybody the counts. Unlike the US, which did away with those things, as well any notion of Civil Defense.
If we were smart we would build a bridge for Putin to retreat on... save a little face and go on with our lives.
Risking all out nuclear war for Ukraine is nuts.