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Ramzan Kadyrov, head of Russia’s region of Chechnya, said on Saturday that Moscow should consider using a low-yield nuclear weapon in Ukraine amid new reversals on the battlefield. In a message on Telegram criticizing Russian commanders for abandoning the east Ukrainian town of Lyman on Saturday, Kadyrov wrote: “In my personal opinion, more drastic measures should be taken, right up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and the use of low-yield nuclear weapons.” Developing

Russia says it is mulling a face-to-face meeting with US officials in order to discuss the New START nuclear arms treaty (Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms). Amid heightened nuclear tensions related to the Ukraine war, in a rare moment of potential good news, given the prior collapse of several US-Russia Cold War era treaties which were meant to avoid confrontation between nuclear armed superpowers."Within the framework of the [advisory] commission, a remote discussion continues on what organizational and technical problems need to be addressed. Some of them have been removed, while others have made significant progress," Russian Foreign...

Russia's dominance in the global nuclear fuel market presents another massive challenge for Washington, especially the liberal hawks in the Biden administration, who are trying to wean Western countries off Russian energy supplies.Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said President Biden is redoubling efforts to break the US reliance on Russian nuclear fuel, indicating domestic uranium-enrichment capacity could be increased with upcoming key legislation. "We are going to get Congressional support in a bipartisan way for us to make our own fuel cycle supply chain independent, certainly of Russia," Granholm said in an interview at the International Atomic Energy Agency in...

former CIA officer said Vladimir Putin had been backed into a corner over his war in Ukraine. Robert Baer told CNN the Russian leader was unlikely to deescalate, given all his setbacks. Baer also said the chances that Putin might turn to tactical nuclear weapons were increasing. As military setbacks in Ukraine force Russian President Vladimir Putin into a corner, one former CIA officer argues that the chances he might turn to nuclear weapons are increasing. "I think the chances of his de-escalating are close to zero," Robert Baer, a former CIA case officer, told CNN on Tuesday, adding that...

We are bizarrely one-tracked in our historical memory. Anything we dislike is compared to the Nazis. So, when Vladimir Putin actually invaded a neighbor, he was inevitably likened to Adolf Hitler. But we don’t have to look far to find an apter parallel. In September 1939, Stalin seized the eastern half of Poland. Unlike his Nazi allies, who simply absorbed the territory they wanted, Stalin made the conquered population vote in sham elections. Two congresses were established in eastern Poland — one supposedly representing ethnic Belarusians, the other ethnic Ukrainians. These two assemblies immediately petitioned to join, respectively, the Belarusian...

Last week, I discussed the nature of tactical nuclear weapons. They are built for tactical effect, not strategic effect. Strategic nuclear weapons, such as the ones dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, can devastate a large area, with both the blast and the nuclear fallout. The blast area would be devastated, and the fallout would increase the lethality and carry it a significant distance downwind. However, it must be remembered that regardless of casualties, neither city was completely abandoned, and both were populated and functioning at a reasonable level about a year after the bombs were detonated. The power of tactical...

Russia will use its largest and most-powerful nukes to defend the territory it occupies in Ukraine, a staunch ally of Vladimir Putin has insisted today. Dmitry Medvedev, who served as a stand-in for Putin from 2008 to 2012, vowed the territories will become part of Russia when referendums are held this week - after which 'any Russian weapons' will be used to defend them. That includes 'strategic nuclear weapons' such as Putin's giant new Sarmat missile, Medvedev said, and 'weapons based on new principles' - likely a reference to hypersonic technology that the Kremlin claims is invulnerable to air defences.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s so-called Iron Doll has spoken — just hours after the Queen was laid to rest — and it’s not pretty. Olga Skabeyeva, one of the Kremlin’s most high-profile propagandists, allegedly said Putin should have launched nuclear weapons at the Queen’s funeral while all the world leaders were in one place, according to the Daily Mail online. “We should have done it today, all the best people are [in Britain] for the funeral,” Skabeyeva, 37, told guests on Monday night, before adding with a grin, “God forgive me.” At the time, she was responding to Andrey Gurulev,...

Vladimir Putin today issued a chilling new threat to use nuclear weapons against the West, telling world leaders to back off Ukraine while warning: 'I'm not bluffing'. The desperate despot also ordered the mobilisation of 300,000 military reserves - a first in Russia since the Second World War - and gave the go-ahead for referendums to be held in occupied areas of Ukraine that would make them a part of Russia, in the Kremlin's eyes at least. He vowed to use 'all means' to defend the regions, saying: 'If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will use...

How the Situation in Ukraine Could Get Far More DangerousAfter days of a withering Ukrainian counteroffensive, the Russian defense ministry announced that it was withdrawing its forces from two areas in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. In a video statement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky quipped, “The Russian army in these days is demonstrating the best that it can do — showing its back.” Ukrainians celebrated, and rightly so. While Russian spokesmen said that Russian forces were “repositioning” ahead of a new offensive, reporters on the ground cast doubt on such pronouncements both because they mirror Russian statements as it abandoned its drive...

The DOJ/FBI appears to be at it with the questionable leaks again.The left is flipping out for what seems like the millionth time at the latest “the walls are closing in on Trump” story.Now, The Washington Post claims that the FBI seized documents during the raid on President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.A document describing a foreign government’s military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities, was found by FBI agents who searched former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and private club last month, according to people familiar with the matter, underscoring concerns among U.S. intelligence officials about classified material stashed in the...

California's grid operator is calling for people to limit their electricity usage amid a historic heat wave that is straining the power system in the U.S.' most populous state. The California Independent System Operator (CAISO), which oversees the state's power grid, on Tuesday afternoon issued an "emergency alert" asking residents to use less power between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. "[R]eal-time analysis shows all resources are committed or forecasted to be in use, and energy deficiencies are expected," CAISO said in a bulletin. The grid operator expects power demand on Tuesday to rise to 52,000 megawatts, exceeding records set in...

Tehran is technically capable of making a nuclear bomb but has yet to decide whether to build it, a senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei told Al Jazeera's Arabic service on Sunday. Tehran will also directly respond against Israel should its security be targeted, the report says citing the advisor. "In a few days we were able to enrich uranium up to 60% and we can easily produce 90% enriched uranium ... Iran has the technical means to produce a nuclear bomb but there has been no decision by Iran to build one," Kamal Kharrazi said.

<p>Speaking at a rally meeting, Ge Heping, Party chief of the Chinese Flight Test Establishment under the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), asked “all personnel involved in the development of the aircraft to fully realize the extreme importance of completing this mission,” Global Times, a Chinese state-owned media group, reported.</p>

The European Parliament on Wednesday voted not to block a proposed rule that would designate gas and nuclear power plants as “climate-friendly.” The rule will take effect unless 20 of the European Union’s (EU) 27 member states band together to stop it. The EU keeps a “taxonomy,” or rulebook, that designates which types of energy investment can be labeled “green.” The terminology is considered valuable for marketing purposes and to attract investors looking for climate-friendly projects. “Green” projects are also eligible for favorable government loans, and even outright government subsidies. The taxonomy is supposed to prevent “greenwashing,” loosely defined as...

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday told his counterpart from Belarus that Moscow would supply Minsk with missile systems capable of carrying nuclear weapons, the Russian foreign ministry said. At a meeting with Putin in St Petersburg, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko expressed concern about the "aggressive", "confrontational" and "repulsive" policies of its neighbours Lithuania and Poland.

Russia’s nuclear forces are holding drills northeast of Moscow Wednesday, a day after President Biden announced plans to send advanced missiles to Ukraine. Some 1,000 Russian soldiers are taking part in intense maneuvers using more than 100 vehicles, including Yars intercontinental missile launchers, Russia’s independent news agency Interfax reported, citing the country’s Ministry of Defense. The drills are taking place in the Ivanovo Oblast, about 160 miles northeast of Moscow. The drills, which are aimed at preparing the missile systems for combat, required the troops to march more than 60 miles, camouflage the equipment and post guards, according to Russian...

(CNAS = Center for a New American Security) One might well wonder if the CNAS study is a "trial balloon" from the Biden Administration to begin preparing the nation and world psychologically for the advent of Iran's "Islamic bomb." One might also wonder if the CNAS study is an attempt to justify consequent U.S. retreat from the Middle East, not as another humiliating defeat, but as a prudent and wise reprioritization of resources to meet the threat from China. President Biden is defunding nuclear weapons critical to U.S. national security, such as the SLCM-N and B-83. He is also still...

The US and its NATO allies should prepare a “devastating” response to potential Russian nuclear action, Sen. Mitt Romney said on Saturday. The call to action comes on the heels of threats from the Kremlin and warnings from Russian diplomats that the country’s Ukraine invasion could lead to a nuclear strike, the Utah Republican wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times.

Iran has not been submitting to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, tasked with ensuring United Nations compliance. Iran is just weeks from having enough fissile material to power a nuclear bomb, while simultaneously completing the deployment of 1000 new centrifuges which will allow the regime to enrich its own uranium at an increasing pace, Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Gantz is warning. The news Tuesday came as nuclear talks between Iran and world power, fueled by the United States and European Union have experienced an awkward pause as it appears the two sides are having trouble compromising. “Iran continues...