New York – “To put it bluntly, who decides is one. There is no control over Putin. Since he made the irresponsible decision to invade Ukraine, he might make a different one. At the moment, however, I don’t see anything that leads me to believe that this has already been done.” The Kremlin chief’s comment on nuclear threats, made by US Secretary of Defense Austin yesterday during an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, is very reminiscent Washington’s narrative on the eve of the invasion: Moscow is stationing troops on the border to attack Kyiv, but the order has not yet been issued. It was hoped it would never happen, but the attack was then launched in February. So the Pentagon is monitoring the situation to intercept any movement that might indicate the use of nuclear weapons, while behind the scenes it activated all available channels to avoid it.
Austin revealed that in the past he had privately urged his Russian colleague Sergei Shoigu “not to walk down that path and not to commit this kind of irresponsible behavior”. He said he hadn’t spoken to him recently, but confirmed that “other US leaders have been sending similar messages to Russia recently.” He was certainly referring to National Security Advisor Sullivan, who said just a few days ago that he had warned Moscow of the “catastrophic consequences” of using nuclear weapons. NATO Secretary Stoltenberg reiterated to NBC yesterday that “any use of nuclear weapons will have serious consequences for Russia.”
The Pope: “Absurd to have returned under the threat of nuclear power. In the name of God, peace!”. And he appeals to Putin and Zelenky to negotiate
by Iacopo Scaramuzzi October 02, 2022
It is likely that if US intelligence intercepted signals that a nuclear attack was being prepared, it would reveal them to the world, as was the case with the troop mass before the invasion of Ukraine. There could be a direct appeal from Biden, publicly or privately as at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, although he is unlikely to make the first move to start negotiations, as doing so would be seen as giving in to Putin’s blackmail. However, Austin condemned the “illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory” and called the threats to use nuclear weapons “an irresponsible statement. This nuclear saber-rattling is not what we would expect from leaders of large countries with nuclear capabilities.” As for the ongoing counteroffensive, “we can assume that the Ukrainians will continue to advance and attempt to retake all territory within their sovereign borders. We will continue to support them.” The Pentagon chief, on the other hand, said he sees no “imminent invasion” of Taiwan by China and hopes to resume communication with his colleague Wei Fenghe, also because it became clear that Putin would prepare a nuclear attack Biden too indicate an intervention by Xi to dissuade him.
Putin’s former ghostwriter: “The atomic bomb is a last act. It could suffer a coup”
by our correspondent Rosalba Castelletti October 01, 2022
The New York Times wrote that the attack does not appear imminent, although Israeli sources report the unusual movement of TU 160 and TU 95 bombers equipped with nuclear warheads to the Olenya base on the Kola Peninsula. Putin has about 2,000 tactical warheads that he could demonstratively deploy in any uninhabited area of the Black Sea or at a Ukrainian military base. The response would be conventional, likely re-launched from Kyiv to avoid direct confrontation with the US and NATO, and devastatingly hit the structures used for launch. Moscow would then be completely excluded from the world financial and economic system.