ingliz wrote:What does that matter if Russia says fuck you? Brinkmanship only works if someone blinks.
President Putin may not be bluffing with his threats to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, the American defence secretary said yesterday.
— The London Times, 2 Oct. 2022
I don't think bluff is the right term. They have the capability of doing what they are saying they would do, it is not a bluff, it is a threat. Wether they would follow through with the threat or not is a completely different question and it speaks to the soundness of mind of Putin and to wether his underlings would be stupid enough to complete his orders (if given) having the understanding that if they do, they are committing warcrimes, genocide and depending what are the targets of those nukes they might be condemning their families and loved one to certain death, all for the misguided obcession of a tiny little crazy dude.
I don't question that Putin can harm NATO, but what I am saying, this is not a balanced fight, he cannot destroy america, he cannot destroy nato. NATO can certainly destroy russia.
Now, this could be far worse for him than we know. We have seen first had in how shitty disaray his military is... all of which suggests rampant corruption, misallocation and stealing of military funds. Again, of the funds that are supposed to pay for uniforms, maintenance of firearms, supplies, body armor... if that funding is being stolen/redirected/inflated/etc... what makes you think that the same exact shit is not happening across russian Silos and missiles? My educated guess is that the same shit is happening across the board, and that even the nuclear capabilities of russia are highly overstated and the real capability is much lower than assumed. Do I want to test that hypothesis? No I don't, but if we are forced into a position that we need to retaliate, I am liking our odds much better than his.