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Is Putin's nuclear saber rattling a sign of strength or weakness

I guess you do not watch the news, but Putin just put his nuclear forces on higher alert and made it know to the rest of the world.
That's literally the headline of the article I posted.
 
The US and Russia both use their nuclear arsenals as threats. The US is the only country to have used nuclear weapons in war, and the US probably has one of the worst (if not the worst) records of testing nuclear weapons on people.
When in the past 70 years has the USA used Nukes, tested nukes or used them on test people. the test on people was actually done before the problem was known and in the start of the cold war. I know you hate the US and love Putin but we are not the ones now to saber rattle the nukes.
 
Putin and Russia aren't the only reasons why this is happening.
Is everyone else supposed to roll over and let him have his way?
 
Weakness.
Putin sees the world is against his aggression in Ukraine.
What other card does he have to play?
 
When in the past 70 years has the USA used Nukes, tested nukes or used them on test people.

I'd have to research when the last time the US tested nuclear weapons.

the test on people was actually done before the problem was known and in the start of the cold war.

Before what problem was known?

I know you hate the US and love Putin

You say that as if we're watching the SuperpowerBowl.

but we are not the ones now to saber rattle the nukes.

The US very much threatens to use its nuclear arsenal.
 
Putin and Russia aren't the only reasons why this is happening.

They're primarily responsible, though. I can understand Russia's concerns about NATO expansion and US hegemony, but that doesn't absolve Russia. China could use similar grievances, and it would be just as wrong for Xi to order the invasion of China's neighbors.
 
They're primarily responsible, though. I can understand Russia's concerns about NATO expansion and US hegemony, but that doesn't absolve Russia.

I'm still listening to progressive viewpoints on the situation, but I'm not fully comfortable with what I highlighted.

China could use similar grievances, and it would be just as wrong for Xi to order the invasion of China's neighbors.

Several people seem to be 'hung up' on it being a neighbor. What does proximity have to do with invading another country?
 
You're a few days late on news.

So what....that is not news and that is not an additional threat. That is pushing a button to a different alert level....big deal.

I get the feeling none of you here lived through the Cuban missile crisis or the bulk of the Cold War when the Soviets and the United States changed their nuclear alert levels constantly. Happened so often it was not even news.
 
So what....that is not news and that is not an additional threat. That is pushing a button to a different alert level....big deal.

I get the feeling none of you here lived through the Cuban missile crisis or the bulk of the Cold War when the Soviets and the United States changed their nuclear alert levels constantly. Happened so often it was not even news.

Do you think this current situation is less, equal or more dangerous than the Cuban Missile Crisis?
 
And there's a lot riding on the line right now for him. If he loses power, he's either dead, in jail for life, or on the run for life. He has a lot to lose, and he has a lot of power at his fingertips that can prevent him from losing.
Pretty good argument for why he shouldn't have started this war. I'd think his only hope now is to use nuclear blackmail to somehow try to avoid accountability. But his global reputation seems to be permanently set to the '21st century Hitler' type.
 
cDo you think this current situation is less, equal or more dangerous than the Cuban Missile Crisis?
less....this is actually a conventional military crisis. Its not a nuclear missile crisis and nothing Putin can do to change that other than actually push the button on his nukes which will force Biden to do likewise. Then the whole world is done. It would no longer be an issue of damage to the US v damage to Russia.

Both countries had less control of their nuclear arsenals during Cuba, had fewer information sources and what both sides had was less accurate and less precise. There was much less margin for error. Now we know exactly what is where and what it is capable of doing. We know what would be launched before they are launched and we would know the targets immediately. That said, Russian targeting has always been subpar. In any event, if they were to launch the American President would have no choice but to launch himself and then all of us are done.

If there is a more pronounced nuclear threat now, it comes from loony tunes analysis that anybody would survive nuclear exchange. There is no such thing as a minimal nuclear launch and no such thing as a minimal response. Once nukes start to fly....ITS OVER! The fallout alone would kill off an ungodly number of people, never mind the initial blast damage.
 
In the absolute sense, it's strength - he has nuclear weapons and is leveraging them for his benefit. In the relative sense, weakness - having to explicitly threaten them instead of having them implicit is driven by his weakening globally as the world turns on him. It's an indication he's lost other power and is down to nukes. But there is a 'cornered animal' danger to it given he can nuke the world at will.
 
In the absolute sense, it's strength - he has nuclear weapons and is leveraging them for his benefit. In the relative sense, weakness - having to explicitly threaten them instead of having them implicit is driven by his weakening globally as the world turns on him. It's an indication he's lost other power and is down to nukes. But there is a 'cornered animal' danger to it given he can nuke the world at will.

Can Putin nuke the world at will? Nobody knows their protocol for using nukes, but I doubt it's just him alone with his finger on the button.
 
Can Putin nuke the world at will? Nobody knows their protocol for using nukes, but I doubt it's just him alone with his finger on the button.
Well, that's always been a question for the US and Russia - if the president ordered a reckless nuclear attack, would anyone refuse the orders? The info I've seen suggests we can't count on that, that the system is built to very reliably and efficiently carry out the orders, but we have seen some cases of resistance where officials have tried to put blocks in for Nixon (Al Haig did that) and trump. I'd say we have to assume Putin could.
 
Well, that's always been a question for the US and Russia - if the president ordered a reckless nuclear attack, would anyone refuse the orders? The info I've seen suggests we can't count on that, that the system is built to very reliably and efficiently carry out the orders, but we have seen some cases of resistance where officials have tried to put blocks in for Nixon (Al Haig did that) and trump. I'd say we have to assume Putin could.
If anything I would be inclined to think if Putin gave the order for a first strike, his generals might decline. There is almost no other way to explain the lack of enthusiasm by Russian military for this Putin Ukraine adventure than that they don't believe in it. Neither sides generals will reject an order for a response to a first nuclear strike. Not going to happen.
 
No, it's not a binary choice.
Are you anti-war or just pro putin and Russia? The US and the world did not start this war, Putin did and not from any aggression toward it from NATO. It is a war of aggression by Russia and especially Putin who wants to go back to the days of the USSR. And what choice do we have other than to use the sanctions rather than start a war with Russia or let Putin get away with conquering Ukraine as the start of his plans. You do not think if this works he will not go after the Balkan states next? What other choices do you see? Please tell us all we are waiting for your plan.
 
I'd have to research when the last time the US tested nuclear weapons.



Before what problem was known?



You say that as if we're watching the SuperpowerBowl.



The US very much threatens to use its nuclear arsenal.
When has the USA threatened to use it arsenal. The last time was the Cuban missile crisis that began when the Russian put nukes in Cuba.
 
Putin first mentioned his nuclear weapons when saying other countries should not interfere in his attack on Ukraine. Now, when his troops are having a lot more trouble in taking the country than he and his people expected and even his oligarchs are beginning to turn on him after the sanctions, he has turned up the heat on the nuclear saber rattling by raising the threat level of his forces. So do you think that this is a sign of his strength which Trump keeps praising or his weakness caused by the whole world and many of his own people turning against him?

I think its Putin rattling his own cage a little bit. Neither strength nor weakness, I dont really think its a sign of strength to invade a nation unnecessarily to begin with. But you might still have a strong military so you can have weak character but strong military. Like GW Bush. And Crooked donnietrump.

I think he's getting attention plus saying "everyone else stay out of this".

I think he's testing the waters, depending on how it goes this may not be a long protracted thing and Ukraine may stay intact.
Or they might indeed reabsorb Ukraine or at least the east next to Russia.

I'm starting to think tho that this is a lot of saber rattling that will hopefully blow over without blowing up militarily involving more nations. Testing the waters and resistance. he may declare "threat over, victory" and retreat. Hopefully.
 
When has the USA threatened to use it arsenal. The last time was the Cuban missile crisis that began when the Russian put nukes in Cuba.

The pretend "president" Crooked donnietrump expressed a desire to be able to use nukes in a war. That was only a few years ago. He didnt threaten a nation directly that I recall.

Thank Zeus and all thats Holy that we dont have that ****ing imbecile in the White House right now imo.
 
The US and the world did not start this war, Putin did and not from any aggression toward it from NATO. It is a war of aggression by Russia and especially Putin who wants to go back to the days of the USSR.

To be fair, the west isn't totally pure in this. I think we're the right side doing the right things, but we should understand how Russia would view this as well, which does NOT justify their attack on Ukraine. Imagine if Putin brought back the Warsaw pact, and Canada, Mexico, Cuba and Latin America join him in a military alliance, and his defense was 'hey, it's just defensive, they haven't attacked the US'.

My point is, it's not a surprise for them to feel some great discomfort, after the US assured them NATO would not move east of Germany, and then it did repeatedly, with bordering country after bordering country that used to be in the USSR joining NATO, and Ukraine passing a resolution to try to join NATO.

I think it's fair for those tensions to be addressed in some manner; there's an inherent tension between nuclear powers each seeking control of or alliances with as many countries as possible. It's a long term power grab either way, and a source for ongoing tensions unless some arrangement is found.

The thing is, saying that does not justify Russia invading Ukraine as the way to address the issue. But we should acknowledge the rest of the issue as well as Russia's horrible war crimes.
 
I'd have to research when the last time the US tested nuclear weapons.

Some of the history is that the early cold war had the US doing a lot of testing of bigger and bigger nuclear weapons. The US made the region around the Bikini Atoll uninhabitable. Russia set off an incredibly large atmospheric weapon and the dangers of the testing became clearer and clearer. The US agree to halt if Russia did, but Russia would then do another and the US would to match them.

This was the situation when JFK became president, with his top priority being to lower the hair-trigger situation for nuclear war Eisenhower had created, by reducing our conventional forces in Europe and adopting a doctrine that our first and only response to a conflict would be nuclear weapons, pushing MAD deterrence to an extreme and extremely dangerous level.
An anecdote about this is that as soon as JFK took office, for this effort, he ordered his Secretary of Defense, McNamara, to review our nuclear war plans; they had been created by the air force and were 'owned' by them and had never been seen by a civilian. The Air Force told their boss, McNamara, no, and he had to go to JFK to get a presidential order to the Air Force to show them to McNamara.

(When he saw them, they were basically targeting every big city in the Soviet Union and China; if there had been a conflict with the USSR leading to nukes, apparently they'd decided we should take out China also while we were at it.)

The second part of JFK's effort became the first cold war treaty to reduce nuclear weapon use, the limited atmospheric test ban treaty. This became JFK's top priority, but he faced a lot of opposition - his own Pentagon was going to the Congressional hearings to testify in opposition to his bill.

But JFK did a lot to get support for it and it finally passed, and JFK viewed that bill as his greatest achievement as president.

After that, testing went underground. I don't have data on the ongoing frequency of any US tests, but it's probably not hard to find. The largest bomb I mentioned, in 1961, was 10 times all munitions used in WWII; Hiroshima was 15 kilotons, it was 57,000 kilotons, visible over 1,000 kilometers away.

 
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