China and Russia just wrapped up a week of joint military exercises with hundreds of ships and planes. This was “the latest in a recent slew of military exercises and joint patrols between Russia and China that come on the heels of vows from Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to tighten milit[...]
Posts Tagged ‘Nuclear War’
January 12th, 2023 - 6:14 pm § in America, Biden, Donald Trump, Foreign Affairs, Politics, Republicans
Be careful who you trust with the nuclear codes
Part of America’s freedom is that we can elect our leaders. That has downsides, although so far not enough to replace democracy with some other system. One of the bigger downsides is that you might get a leader like Trump. America’s voters should think hard before they do that again. Tha[...]
Where China stands on Ukraine’s NATO bid
On Sunday, in the state-owned Global Times, Beijing warned the U.S. that allowing Ukraine to join NATO — which the Biden administration doesn’t support — would inevitably escalate the conflict and increase the danger of nuclear war. The Global Times editorial, which is seen as spea[...]
October 2nd, 2022 - 11:06 pm § in Russia
What might happen if Putin goes nuclear
While there’s no sign right now of Russian preparations to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, U.S. and NATO officials are taking Putin’s latest threats “very seriously.” A Russian ex-oligarch who knows Putin well predicts he’ll try to turn things around with the 3[...]
September 27th, 2022 - 2:28 am § in Russia
Will Putin suffer the tsar’s fate?
Tsar Nicholas II, the guy who was shot in a shabby cellar along with his entire family, was warned by his advisers not to assume personal command of the Russian army. If he did, they said, and the war was lost, he would be blamed. Well, we know how that turned out (watch video here). […][...]
September 26th, 2022 - 6:56 pm § in Russia
A day we almost didn’t survive
The Soviet Union’s ICBM detection system was clunky with large gaps in radar coverage. We knew it, and they knew it. That made the Soviets jumpy, and the Cold War more dangerous. The faults of their system very nearly triggered an accidental nuclear war on Monday, September 26, 1983. A single [...]
May 3rd, 2022 - 3:27 pm § in Russia
Don’t kid yourself about nuclear war
The handwringing has begun. Michael Christ, writing for CNN, says (here): “The Pentagon response [to Putin’s latest nuclear saber-rattling] appears to be an ‘extra urgency in developing a new generation of doomsday weapons that could maintain deterrence,’ according to David I[...]
March 9th, 2022 - 2:56 am § in Environment, Russia
ART: Extinction
The poor creatures didn’t understand what was happening. Will the next mass-extinction event be caused by fire from the sky? And radioactive ash? Will we know why? One potential reason: “If there is no Russia, why do we need the planet?” — Vladimir Putin (Click on image to en[...]
Kids hiding under desks
Journalist Jill Filipovic (profile here), who frequently writes op-eds for CNN, says here, “Making the prospect of nuclear war … a part of the international calculus in potential conflict” — which is what Russia’s Putin did this week — is “a startling depart[...]
Ukraine and nuclear risk
For decades, the U.S. and Russia avoided direct confrontations that could escalate to nuclear war. Leaders on both sides were cautious. Putin may be cut from different cloth. Even before he invaded Ukraine, Biden declared sending U.S. troops was off the table, and Russia’s nukes was why, but P[...]