The Tsar Did Not Have Nuclear Weapons – Be Careful About Toppling This Despot
The Tsar Did Not Have Nuclear Weapons – Be Careful About Toppling This Despot
Press reports of Putin moving nukes emerge...
The Tsar Did Not Have Nuclear Weapons – Be Careful About Toppling This Despot
In 1914 at the outset of the First World War, the Russian Army was known throughout Europe as the “Russian Steamroller.” It was massive. The Tsar had, it appeared, unlimited resources. Everyone was sure the Russians would march across Europe and crush their enemies.
It was not to be. The Russian Army was poorly trained and poorly led. It fell apart. It suffered defeat after defeat. Those defeats contributed in no small measure to the end of the monarchy, the Russian Revolution, and the rise of the Soviet Union.
It is no exaggeration to say that we are still dealing with the ripple effects of the fall of the Tsar a century later. Nicholas II was a despot, but his overthrow did not lead to a liberal, democratic Russia. Instead, we got Stalin, famine in the Ukraine, purges of dissidents that killed millions, generations of oppression, the Cold War, and a nuclear arms race.
Turns out regime change has a lot of consequences – many of which are very bad.
Somebody in Washington ought to pick up a book, bone up on some history, and think about all that before it is too late.
Putin has lost the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian troops are on the offense, and Russia has no ability to stop them. Russian men are fleeing the nation to escape conscription. Russia is talking about taking citizens of Central Asian nations into the military to fill out the ranks.
There is increasing concern about Russian use of tactical nuclear weapons. That concern is absolutely valid. Putin has no real answer to what is happening on the battlefield using conventional means. He is looking at the very real prospect that the Ukrainians, should they choose to do so can now dictate terms to him.
Earlier today there were press reports of the movement of a Russian nuclear munitions train to the front with Ukraine. Konrad Muzyka, a Poland-based defense analyst, said the train, spotted in central Russia, was linked to the 12th main directorate of the Russian ministry of defense and that it was “responsible for nuclear munitions, their storage, maintenance, transport, and issuance to units”.
There are also persistent press reports of an impending test of Russia’s nuclear torpedo called Poseidon. Poseidon is an unmanned underwater vehicle, which carries a nuclear warhead. It can travel over 6000 miles at speeds approaching 60 miles per hour. The size of its warhead is unknown, but detonated offshore in the vicinity of a coastal city it could inflict massive damage and cause horrific casualties.
At this moment what we need is calm. We need to de-escalate. We need to push to get all parties to the table and begin the process of negotiating an end to this crisis.
Instead, we are getting helpful comments like those of retired general Petraeus yesterday. Petraeus, whose counterinsurgency doctrine brought us our ‘brilliant’ victory in Afghanistan, apparently thought that what we needed at this critical moment was to throw some more fuel on the fire. He vowed that if Putin used nuclear weapons in Ukraine the United States would wipe out Russian troops in Ukraine and sink Russia’s Black Sea fleet. Left unaddressed was under what authority this administration would presume to start World War III or if that was even still a relevant consideration.
Petraeus’s comments did not come in isolation. They were completely consistent with the official rhetoric coming out of the White House. A week ago, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stated publicly that there would be “catastrophic consequences” for Russia if it used nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
It is 2022. Our President is a senile empty suit coopted long ago by the Communist Chinese. His administration is filled with men and women devoid of military or intelligence experience and all enamored of the idea of “regime change” and rattling sabers. These incompetents are exchanging threats of nuclear war with a thuggish despot who is increasingly backed into a corner and facing ruin.
All it will take will be one miscalculation, and we will have managed to turn a war in Eastern Europe between Russia and Ukraine into a world war and the nuclear exchange we have been working hard to avoid since the invention of the atom bomb. What will emerge on the other side of that catastrophe is unknowable, but it will not be a future filled with sweetness and light. It will dark, horrifying and enduring.
In 1917 most of the civilized world celebrated the fall of the Tsar and the dissolution of the Russian empire. All the pundits of the age were sure that what was coming would be better, more humane, and more enlightened. It was not. It was horror on a scale the world had never seen before.
We need to take several steps back, cool down the rhetoric, and discard any fantasies about toppling Putin and remaking Russia. This war needs to come to a negotiated settlement before we tumble into the abyss. Putin may be just the latest tyrant to rule in Moscow, but he has one asset the Tsar never dreamed of.
Putin has nuclear weapons.
Since Putin signed his economic and military pact with CCP’s Xi, where and how does CCP decision approval for Russia to use any form of nuclear weapon on the battlefield come into play?
In my view brother, and being right in the middle of the Cold War era, Military Europe. One of the best we have today. Thank you! 🇺🇸