Originally Posted by
NutLoose
Put it this way, if Russia drops a tactical nuke on Ukraine and there isn’t a proportional response, say NATO simply ramps up supply’s and operations in the area, that then gives Russia the belief that there will be no nuclear response, so they are free to drop another and another.
Nutty,
there are lots of doors to choose. [GO NUKE EARLY] is but one of a veritable smorgasbord of options for the politicians and military strategists to apply, and of course, that remains an option at all times. If this was chess, there are only around 10^40 ways the game unfolds, a subset of the ~ 4.8x10^44 legal moves available. In Ukraine, the main thing is that both sides are well aware that the other has the capability to end them at great personal cost, and there is a certainty that in retaliation for a direct nuclear attack, a secondary response is a certainty. There are a lot of doors to choose from at all times.
The west is simply restrained at present out of a desire to not escalate, however, that goes away if Russia escalates with any NBC weapons of mass destruction, and there are plentiful targets within the LEGAL Ukrainian borders that they can unleash a lot of conventional munitions on, while keeping the deterrents spun up in the background.
TNW use comes with an implied preference for a reliable delivery system, the number of busted artillery tubes, smoked MLRS, downed cruise missiles etc, and even the number of return-to-sender missiles suggest that the delivery means for TNWs are less than perfect. How does Putin explain popping a sunrise accidentally over his own troops and those that he has come to make either dead or with diminishing likelihood good Russia
cannon fodder citizens