Russia Holds Nationwide Nuclear Drill - Bumbling Toward The Apocalypse

Russia will hold nationwide drills simulating widespread nuclear attacks on the country. That is happening today. It is happening in response to the growing fear in Russia of an attack on that nation by Western powers including the United States.

In the United States, faced with this escalation and the growing possibility of actual nuclear war, the Biden administration and the war hawks on Capitol Hill continue to demand more money and more arms for Ukraine. No off-ramps or negotiations for these guys. They want more blood, and, presumably, more profits for defense contractors.

Today’s exercise is based on a scenario, which assumes an attack by NATO that destroys 70 percent of Russian housing and life-support facilities. In this scenario, martial law is imposed in the country and a full-scale mobilization is ordered. The scenario also assumes damage to nuclear power plants and other key facilities.

This exercise will not be simply a command post exercise. It will include regional authorities organizing emergency rescue teams to provide food, medical supplies, and protection against radiation. Putin will move to one of his nuclear bunkers to hide from the simulated nuclear attack.

Let’s be clear. This exercise is based on a scenario in which a nuclear war is fought between Russia and the United States. It does not envision a limited exchange of some sort. It accepts that huge portions of Russia will be rendered uninhabitable and the mass, permanent movement of survivors to new areas.

The Russians are preparing for Armageddon.

Meanwhile, there is separate reporting that Russia will conduct a test detonation of a nuclear weapon north of the Arctic Circle. The Russian Defense Minister Sergei Soygu said months ago that Russia was contemplating resuming regular nuclear tests after a moratorium that has lasted several decades.

The scenario reads in relevant part: ‘In some constituent entities [regions] of the Russian Federation, as a result of emergencies or other types of physical impact, complete destruction of life support facilities and up to 70% of the housing stock is possible’.

Nor is there any question that this exercise is based on escalating real-world tensions. This is not an abstract theoretical experiment. The Russians see the danger of nuclear war with the United States rising dramatically every day.

The document outlining the scenario reads:

‘The risk of armed conflicts escalating into local and regional wars, including those involving nuclear powers, is increasing.”

‘The threat to the safety of the population is posed by the risk of the use by a possible by the enemy of modern long-range means of defeat, as well as possible attacks using unmanned aerial and watercraft.”

Russia has conducted nuclear drills before. It has never before conducted an exercise on this scale across the entire nation.

The Russians invaded Ukraine with the expectation they would be in Kiev within days, install a puppet government, and present the West with a fait accompli. It did not work out that way. Forward progress stopped long ago. The Russians are pulling decades-old tanks out of storage, conscripting new soldiers, and buying drones from the Iranians to use in the war. The Russians are bleeding to death on the battlefield.

The Ukrainians, despite massive aid, are not doing much better. The average age of a Ukrainian soldier on the frontlines is now over 40. Forward progress in the much-discussed counteroffensive is nil. Winter is coming and the Russians are methodically taking down the Ukrainian power grid. They will let the cold kill Ukraine.

The time has come for both parties to sit down at the negotiating table and face some hard truths. Putin will not conquer Ukraine. Ukraine will never recover all its lost territory.

Everyone will need to make concessions.

The United States is the only power that can push the warring nations together. It should, not simply for humanitarian reasons but to end the threat of escalation. Every day as Putin sees his conventional forces weaken he thinks ever more seriously about relying upon the one weapon that remains intact – nuclear arms. His tanks may have been shredded on the battlefield. His ICBMs remain untouched.

It is time for statesmen to step forward and prevent the unthinkable. They are in short supply. A doddering old figurehead of a President continues to babble about yet more aid to Ukraine. Republican lawmakers who have never heard a shot fired in anger talk about investing in “killing Russians.”

We have spent more than enough time in the last twenty years fighting wars without a clear strategic purpose. We now stand on the brink of fighting one which may end civilization as we know it. We show no signs of changing course. We continue to bumble toward the apocalypse.