“We have the firepower to wipe out every Russian city, just one Trident submarine, and of course we’re not using it and have no intention of using it. But why doesn’t somebody in the administration call Putin’s bluff? He’s bluffing.
Putin knows we are powerful, he doesn’t have much of an army, he doesn’t have much of an economy, it’s a tiny economy. And he’s playing a bluff. But unfortunately, we have a man in charge in Washington who doesn’t like to stand up to bluffs. He folds his winning hand every single time.”
Pat Robertson
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russia’s nuclear forces on high alert for the first time since the end of the Cold War.
Putin has been issuing nuclear threats because he was surprised by the strength and unity of the US and NATO response, and the effectiveness of crippling sanctions.
Putin’s ill-conceived invasion of Ukraine has been an unmitigated disaster, he expected a three- or four-day blitzkrieg victory, but it has devolved into a bloody stalemate that has claimed the lives of about seven thousand Russian soldiers.
With no quick victory on the horizon, Putin has resorted to nuclear threats to ward off NATO from supplying planes to Ukraine or establishing a no-fly zone. A defeat in Ukraine would severely threaten Putin’s hold on power.
We shouldn’t dismiss Putin’s nuclear threats as nothing more than bluster, in Syria, Chechnya and now in Ukraine he’s demonstrated that he has no regard for human life, and he might resort to nuclear weapons to guarantee victory.
I’m glad Pat Robertson isn’t a presidential advisor, because he’s a freaking moron suffering from dementia. Russia may only be the 11th greatest economy in the world, and its military may be in disarray, but it has the number one nuclear arsenal in the world.
It’s imperative that we take seriously any nuclear threat emanating from Russia.
Robertson is right that America has the firepower to wipe out every Russian city with just one Trident submarine, but Russia also has the firepower to wipe out every American city.
It is the height of irresponsibly for any nuclear power to threaten use of nuclear weapons. Biden should never make any nuclear threats, but at the same time we should make it crystal clear to Putin that we won’t give in to nuclear intimidation and that we will defend every inch of NATO territory.