Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I think we should make something of our wretched investment in Ukraine. Not slow witted or joking. I think Putins hand here is weaker than any are acknowledging. Push him harder. Now.
You need to spend a little time studying the current state of the art in nuclear war.
According to some experts the Russians may have as little as three minutes to detect an incoming nuclear missile (because of their inferior satellite tracking capability).
That has almost certainly forced them to delegate nuclear launch authority to commanders outside of Moscow.
You do not want to increase tensions that might convince some Russian commander that it was “do or die” time.
In a nuclear war there are no winners, only losers.
I think Putins hand here is weaker than any are acknowledging. Push him harder. Now.
Ok, then I would ask “why?”. There simply is no reason to do so. At least no reason that benefits any normal US citizen.
Next, every street cop knows the dangers for those deciding someone is weak, and deciding to push them into a corner. Imagine some street bum with a pistol. A tormentor pushing him harder laughing that he wouldn’t dare. You never know where someone’s breaking point is.
And as an example, Putin tells a story from his childhood where he and a couple of other boys were chasing a rat with sticks, hitting at it and thinking it was funny. But at one point the rat was cornered with no possible escape and it straight out attacked and the boys all fled in terror. He’s told that story a few times.
He learned a lesson from that somehow. And it very well might be that if completely cornered, attack for all you are worth.
The base of the Kusrk salient is 20 to 25 miles wide.
Park artillery on either side of it, and the Russians have fire control over the supply lines in.
Kampfgruppe Peiper ended in a similar manner in the Ardennes at Stoumont.