Between Nov. 9, 1989, and Dec. 26, 1991, the Berlin wall toppled, the iron curtain was lifted, and the Soviet Union ceased to exist. In just a little more than two years, the Cold War came to an end and the daily threat of nuclear war dissipated. For the past 31 years we have slowly forgotten our fears and the real possibilities of nuclear Armageddon.
This all changed on Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022, when the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin justified his war by saying it is a “special military operation to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine” and to prevent a genocide against ethnic Russians in the Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk. Just two days later, Putin placed his nuclear forces on high alert and threatened that any nation that interfered with his actions against Ukraine would face “consequences they have never seen.”
A new nuclear red line has been drawn by the autocrat Putin. Most of the world sees the Russian invasion of Ukraine as unjustified and horrific. Many want to help Ukraine remain independent, but they realize any direct confrontation of nuclear powers could lead to an escalation and the end of the world as we know it.
Both Pope Francis and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have recently commented on the increased threat of nuclear war. On March 14, the UN Secretary-General stated, “Nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, is now back within the realm of possibility.” A few days later, the Pope commented, “Our imagination appears increasingly concentrated on the representation of a final catastrophe that will extinguish us … such as that which would happen with an eventual atomic war.”
Not since the Cold War, have we felt this overwhelming dread of a possible nuclear holocaust. According to the Federation of American Scientists, Russia has the largest stockpile of atomic weapons in the world with 5,977. The United States has 5,428 such weapons with the United Kingdom having 225 and France having 290. That means NATO has 5,933 nuclear weapons at its disposal.
The old doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) has come back to the world forefront. Basically, MAD prevents all out warfare between two or more nuclear nations because each side would be wiped out in an atomic confrontation. Having nuclear weapons, oddly enough, prevents WWIII from occurring.
However, the world is in real danger now because it is becoming difficult to see where Putin has drawn his nuclear red line. If NATO aids Ukraine too much an escalation could occur to nuclear war. But what is too much aid?
Apparently, it is all right to allow some 16,000 to 20,000 volunteer foreign fighters from Europe, America and elsewhere to join the Ukrainian war efforts. It also seems acceptable to place incredibly severe economic sanctions on Russia to force it to withdraw from Ukraine. Finally, it also seems “safe” to send Ukraine billions of dollars of conventional weapons to defend against the invading Russian military.
[image_caption]Dave Berger[/image_caption]
NATO is sending in additional troops into Eastern European nations that are members of the alliance including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. It wants to send a message to Putin that they have a nuclear red line as well. If Russian forces attack one of these nations, NATO will defend them.
With such heightened tensions between NATO and Russia, a miscalculation by either side could trigger a direct confrontation and escalation to World War III.
We no longer train our students to duck under their desks or to hide in fallout shelters, but we still live under the daily threat of destroying ourselves. At times we forget how close we are to our own demise. The Russo-Ukrainian War has brought back the terror of a possible nuclear apocalypse front and center.
Dave Berger of Maple Grove, Minnesota, is a retired sociology professor who taught for nearly thirty seven years. He is now a freelance writer and author.
There are questions regarding this “war” between Russia and Ukraine. If Russian troops can’t quickly defeat a Ukrainian army, how powerful is the Russian military? Are the Russian people behind this invasion at all? Is NATO anything more than another huge, over paid group of do nothings? How can NATO countries buy 10’s of millions of dollars daily from Russia in oil and try to be tough on them? What in the world was Biden doing telling US troops they would be in Ukraine soon (immediately walked back by his clean up in isle 9 group)? Not to be undone, Biden then stated Putin needed to be taken out (isle 9 group goes to work again), what is Biden doing? Foreign press was killing Biden on his statements, USA media says nothing. How does this war end? Putin is clear on his stance of “One World Order”, Putin can’t stand the idea. Again, Biden said “new world order coming and USA must lead it”, how about we just lead our own country first Joe?
These past 4 weeks have been a giant contradiction in what is happening and what is being said. I’m with the author, nobody wants a nuclear war but what is this all about? Easy to say Putin is a crazed lunatic but there is a lot going on.
Hey, what’s with calling Putin’s War a “war”? Do you doubt it’s a war? As for “a giant contradiction”, I’m seeing more of one in your comment than anything Biden and NATO are doing. So you think the Russian Army is a joke, and NATO is a massive do-nothing boondoggle (that should do even more?), but you agree with the author that nobody wants a nuclear war?
It’s a tough position to be in favor of escalation but despise the current US commander in chief, isn’t it? The logical position you should be taking is “let Putin run wild in Ukraine because letting Biden command our troops and state US policy is even more dangerous!” But no, you seem to want even more confrontation, just with a different president; an impossible arrangement as of March 2022. So pick one or the other.
I guess I can agree that it’s a “contradiction” for the EU to be opposing Vladimir the Terrible’s war of choice while also buying his natural gas. But you know why that is, they need the gas and Putin needs the cash. This little energy dependence “contradiction” may end up being one of the things that prevents a final nuclear annihilation, so I wouldn’t criticize it but would instead celebrate it.
I’d say that when the energy stops flowing that will be another step to Total War. So, as they say, be careful what you wish for…
Joe would accept closing in on WW3 if he thought it would give the Republicans and edge in the midterms. And we could be in a full blown WW3 armed conflict with Russia and Joe would still be filled with fear and loathing to support any politician not of his own party. No “whataboutism” when it comes to the party over country preferences of today’s “conservatives”: We know where they stand because they tell us everyday:
Marjorie Taylor Greene on Ukraine:
“Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene parroted a Russian talking point with her claim that Ukraine is a country whose “government only exists because the Obama State Department helped to overthrow the previous regime.”
Experts in foreign policy related to Russia and Ukraine called Greene’s claim “ludicrous” and “preposterous and embarrassing.” Moreover, they said, Greene appears to have bought into Russian propaganda.”
And Madison Cawthorn:
“During a men’s club meeting, western North Carolina congressman Madison Cawthorn didn’t walk back his “thug” comment about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, instead repeating his claim that Ukraine is “one of the most corrupt countries”.
“Remember that Zelensky is a thug,” Mr Cawthorn told supporters earlier this month, a video obtained by WRAL shows. “Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and is incredibly evil and has been pushing woke ideologies.”
” but they realize any direct confrontation of nuclear powers could lead to an escalation and the end of the world as we know it.”
Putin’s gambit: He figures we think he is crazy enough to pull the trigger, that allows the bully to get away with murder. Personally, just another chess game to him, and he wouldn’t do it, got that thing called MAD, he knows if he lets 1 go we do as well, its the no win scenario.
It’s hard to argue with anything the author writes here, of course. One has to grant that Czar Vladimir the Terrible has taken nuclear Armageddon back out of the closet of terrors and made it “plausible” again.
It’s not clear that there are any points of opposition to Czar Putin; as a dictator who thinks he is the smartest person in the room (like Hitler), Putin’s “cabinet” is made up entirely of craven sycophants who tell the dictator what he wants to hear and carry out out his orders as message boys. Just as bad, it appears that the obvious failures of the much-vaunted “Information Age” have made it easier, not harder, to propagandize the Russian populace. The threat of jail has (mostly) cowed those Russians who oppose the war, and it appears likely that a majority of Russians actually believe Putin’s nonsense about the “danger” Ukraine poses to Russia. (The real “danger” to Putin’s Russia is the existence of an actual democratic (Slavic) Ukraine; that is the sort of “contradiction” that an autocrat of a failing Russian state cannot tolerate.)
So who is left to refuse to follow Vladimir the Terrible’s orders, however criminal? His generals? They would be the only hope of resistance to a nuclear strike order. Unfortunately, they have been quite willing (so far) to carry out Terrorism by Military in Ukraine, with the endless documentation of their bombing of hospitals, schools, theaters, residential areas, etc. So the Russian generals seem a weak reed to hang any opposition upon.
I suppose the US intelligence community is poring over the last time the world faced nuclear brinkmanship, the Cuba Missile Crisis. Unfortunately, ex-KGB colonel Putin has studied that one to death, as it is clearly seen as a “failure” of Soviet nerve and a “humiliation” for the Motherland. One can only worry that Vladimir the Terrible would resolve not to make that “mistake” again…
At this point, there’s no use in borrowing trouble, more will likely come without worrying about it. The specter of nuclear annihilation will first appear in Czar Putin’s utterances, not those of NATO or the US; he is the one “losing” at this point. Putin’s War has not yet reached that stage of rhetoric. But as with the Cuban Missile Crisis, one side or the other will (likely) back down should we reach the brink. That’s got to be the hope, anyway…
In the Cuban Missile Crisis, both sides “backed down.” Kennedy agreed to give up some offensive missiles in Turkey, which was sort of mentioned in passing by the press. Regardless, it was resolved through diplomacy, not insults.
Biden has destroyed any chance for a diplomatic solution involving the US at this point. Zelenskyy’s only hope for a peaceful solution now is to tell Putin that the US doesn’t speak for him.
Oh, I think it’s quite fair to say that the perception (and the reality) of the resolution of the Crisis was a humiliation for the Soviet Union, which saw Khrushchev’s missile gambit as a significant strategic reverse. It’s one of the reasons he was removed, after all. Of course some face-saving measure was necessary for the resolution.
Not sure what you mean by “peaceful solution” for Zelensky, since his country is already largely wrecked for decades. The Cuban Missile Crisis had a “peaceful solution”, but not Putin’s War. Zelensky is now negotiating for some sort of peace treaty, but the situation surely wasn’t resolved “peacefully”.
As for Biden, it’s highly unlikely that anything he said about Putin is going to be a decisive obstacle to the end of Putin’s War. Obviously the US has pulled back the “can’t remain in power” comment, which is unfortunate since it is true. But it appears that was too provocative for the EU and would remove flexibility for the US. In any event, it can’t really be disputed Putin is a war criminal.
Russia under Putin’s regime is a rogue nation, that has shown it cannot in future be considered a responsible member of the world community. So no “rehabilitation” is possible for Czar Putin, that has to be US policy. How can the US and the EU ever remove the sanctions as long as Vladimir the Terrible remains in power?
Dennis, the chances for peaceful resolution disappeared when Putin started a war by invading Ukrain. If you think Putin invaded the Ukrain because he felt insulted by Biden… don’t quit your day job for a new gig in foreign relations.
Sadly, what you write is obviously very true, Mr. Berger. Putin has risen above his peers to become the international personification of evil in our time.
And the Russian army, never known for finesse, continues to ravage Ukraine, even allegedly deporting populations under its control.
Except for the recent remark that sounded like a wish to change the regime, the Biden administration has done a remarkably good job, i think, at handling this situation.
A cleverly redone old-fashioned portrait has been circulating on line. It shows stern Adolf Hitler as mother, a seated, smiling Stalin as father, and happy little boy Putin in front. Only lacking is a family dog with face of Trump, licking Putin’s small shoes.
When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 we were lulled into thinking we were moving toward a post-nuclear world. We just forgot to routinely dismantle 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons, which we could have and should have done, and which would have at least brought us in the right direction.
Now we find ourselves in a situation where we must necessarily sit on our hands, where a crazy man can single-handedly start a world war. How did we get here?
Well, complacency is part of it. Listening to autocrats who claim to have all the answers is in current vogue. Being blissfully unaware of history helps, too. Now we have growing numbers of Americans willing to vote against their own interests, willing to back a candidate or a party that is diametrically opposed to democracy itself, with a national leader who is chipping away at the very foundation of democracy: trust in elections.
So, now what? Where do we go from here? The enemy is in our midst. To quote (I think) Pogo, I have seen the enemy, and the enemy is us.
Human nature itself is the problem with “us.”
Unfortunately for Americans, what is making nuclear war a reality is a President that states our troops will see for themselves soon what is happening in Ukraine, calls for taking out Putin and the talks of chemical weapons. The White House quickly tried to correct the statements but Biden came out today with word salad trying to dodge questions.
It is a remarkable lens to see every aspect of Putin’s War simply as a vehicle for Biden hatred….but I do appreciate seeing your “perspective”!
Remember the bygone days of the American left being accused of “BDS”, Bush Derangement Syndrome? I think I’m sensing a parallel…
No BK, most of his ramblings are harmless, I just shake my head it. When you are talking about the President of the United States, on a world stage, calling for regime change in Russia (along with a couple other gaffes) during a war, that is a problem. Most Lefties will just ignore it but considering where and when Biden made his remarks, he is endangering the USA people.
Most Americans think Putin should be removed Joe. He’s the problem here. The Biden administration has done a remarkable job staying ahead of Putin during this entire crisis. Remember them telling the world Russia was going to invade throughout February, and the Europeans and even Zelinsky downplaying it. Well, we have excellent intelligence in Russia and going public to stay ahead of Russian disinformation has been state craft for the history books. Perhaps you’d prefer that Biden “shake down” Zelinsky with the billions in weapons were giving them in exchange (quid pro quo) for some dirt on Melania? Because that’s how a real president operates, right Joe??
Chad, I agree Putin is a bad guy. Not sure how it helps to have the President of the USA say we need to eliminate Putin, only to have his communication department come out 2 hours later saying that is not our policy. If Biden feels taking out Putin is the best option, stand by it. His mumbling word salad of “that is how I feel but we will not get engaged in a fight with Russia”. On the world stage Biden’s communication department had to walk back 3 statements made by Biden, himself.
That is a dangerous situation when world leaders don’t know whether to believe Joe or his communication department. It makes Biden look old and unable to speak for himself. While you see leadership (must have great eyes) the rest of the world sees disorganization.
“While you see leadership (must have great eyes) the rest of the world sees disorganization.”
Then how come the recent articles about Biden in the European press have been generally favorable; in fact, more favorable than the coverage in the US?
Be reasonable. That is precisely the sort of news that cannot penetrate the rightwing bubble!
Putin is doing nothing different that every Russian Czar/dictator has done. Try to dominate the world. Why would we think his actions would be any different? Why did we ever let it get this far? This is the 5th country he has invaded (by my quick count). We are seeing that his military is mainly a paper force, with much of the funds directed towards it, ending up in an Oligarch’s pocket (or yacht). I don’t see this as WW3, Russia doesn’t have any allies. And here we sit arguing who is at fault, the Democrats, or Republicans? What is wrong with us? Putin isn’t dumb he is playing his propaganda game directed at us, and driving a wedge between us.
I’m not clear how the American left is blaming the Repubs for Putin’s War, robert, perhaps I’m missing something. But there is no doubt that many, many Repubs are blaming the Dem Biden’s for his handling of the situation; that’s in their DNA at this point. So you are half right: “what is wrong with” the “conservative” movement?
And YOU are blaming someone other than Putin, that’s for sure. It certainly seems like you are blaming a Dem (Obama) for “letting it get this far” after Putin’s invasion of Crimea in 2014. And NATO and the EU, apparently. As I’ve said before, your argument is almost entirely based on 20/20 hindsight. Remember that the EU (and Zelensky!) did not believe Vladimir the Terrible was going to actually invade, right up to the moment the first cruise missile hit Ukraine.
As for Czar Putin’s invasions, are you counting Ukraine twice? And Syria? That was by invitation! But I do agree that Czar Putin does seem to spend all his time worrying about Russia being “surrounded” and losing its “honor” as a nation. And I must rise to Russia’s defense as a supposed “aggressor” over the course of its history; most Czars were not much interested in the doings of the West, Peter the Great is commonly as ascribed as the Czar who turned the country to the west. It took quite a while before anyone could really even try to argue that Russia was trying to “dominate the world”. There was a rather famous French emperor that might better fit that description, one who had his own disastrous war of choice with Russia…so that takes us to at least 1815!
Even Russia’s supposed “domination” efforts in the Soviet Period/Cold War were pretty half-hearted at best, especially considering that their country was almost destroyed in a war of annihilation unilaterally begun by Nazi Germany in 1941. So I can’t say I agree with your blanket statement concerning 500 years of Russian history…
I don’t see anyone on the left blaming Republicans for Putin’s war… but some of us couldn’t help but notice Republican sympathies for Putin while blaming Biden or NATO for Putin’s war. And we all saw Trump’s affection for Putin play out repeatedly while he was POTUS. Remember when Trump trusted Putin’s word over his own intelligence community? Yeah… that was funny. Almost as funny as when Bush looked into the soul of Putin and found someone he could trust and work with. Whatever.
There are certain elements of the American left that have responded to the invasion with “No, Russia should not have invaded, but the US provoked the war by expanding NATO and not saying Ukraine couldn’t join.”
This argument, of course, overlooks the fact that NATO expansionism was just a pretext for the invasion. Putin’s goal all along has been a Eurasian empire.
Sure but some on the “right” are making the same accusation so it’s kind of a wash. We always see this kind of response to any conflict from the pacifist anti-war progressives.
Well no, Putin is kinda dumb, in that he believed his own propaganda, thinking he could roll Ukraine in days, and that the world would look on in disbelief. Now, Russia will become a third world pariah state, Ukraine has eviscerated his supposed military juggernaut on the field, and the Western alliance will be ascendant in geopolitics for the foreseeable future. The problem conservatives such as yourself are having is that it wasn’t supposed to be this way. Putin was supposed to be the culmination of your assertation that we had become weak, that we needed to be more like Russia I’m order to regain our lauded imperialist crown as leader of the free world, resplendent in all our conservative “traditional values” and vaunted exceptionalism. Putin’s abject failure proves the hollow emptiness of your ideological worldview, and lights a path towards a different sort of geopolitics, one of powerful collaboration, where we don’t need be the only force of note, and need not directly involve ourselves in every conflict, yet still maintain our leadership role in world affairs. The sort of policy you consider weak, yet which has been shown over and over to be the only true strength in an interconnected world. That conservatives are left to pick and poke around the margins of policy, attempting to score political points on specific detail, serves only to further illustrate the utter weakness and irrelevance of your position on the world stage.
“Putin isn’t dumb he is playing his propaganda game directed at us, and driving a wedge between us.” You know Bob some of us have been saying that for years, get on the other side of the wedge, it isn’t the lefties calling Putin a genius, or supporting his propaganda war! Sooner or later we all got to chose.
This is NOT a military analysis. You may or may not be more afraid of a nuclear apocalypse but that has little bearing on the actual threat. NATO will NOT engage directly with Russian troops and the Russian Army is clearly in no condition to threaten any other country regardless of the outcome in the Ukrain. Putin has made a colossal blunder and has revealed himself as a rather a buffoon more so than the evil genius many of us assumed him to be. NATO won’t engage the Russian Army directly or even indirectly, they’ll just watch him bleed out in the Ukrain and Putin’s conventional military weakness has now been revealed beyond question.
By the way… to whatever extent you may have felt safer you should know that the Soviets built a Dead Hand system back in the 80’s that they never actually dismantled… you only felt safe because you didn’t know any better not because you were actually safer.
The ramblings of our current POTUS are also a great threat to the wars escalation. One must be embarrassed for President’s constant misstatements and staff “walk backs” from his incoherent ramblings.
“Walk back Biden” is our greatest threat to the war escalation, unless the Russians understand and ignore his severely diminished capabilities and refuse to take him seriously as the democrats have already done.
“The ramblings of our current POTUS . . .”
Oh, please. No Trump supporter has any right to snark about “ramblings” of any other person. None whatever.
Matthew 7:5.
Indeed RB. If anyone wants to see an example of “ramblings” watch Trumps answer a question about the Ukraine in this interview. After complimenting Putin’s love for the Ukraine and his desire to possess it, he launches into a thing about windmills. He got the video removed from youtube but you can still watch it here, just scroll down. https://www.indy100.com/viral/trump-ukraine-war-windmills-podcast
Curiously, Ron, the news of Putin’s War yesterday was that Russian troops were either pulling back as part of the peace negotiations (according to them) or at least re-positioning forces for greater defensive purposes, not a great sign for their offensive in either telling. And this after Biden had made his “incoherent” statement calling into question whether Putin can be permitted to retain power in Russia after his unprovoked, illegal war of aggression against a democratic nation, replete with war crimes by Russian forces.
Unrelated? Or perhaps “mistakenly” indicating to the Russian dictator what could actually be demanded as his war and carnage drag out might be a good strategy? Impossible, I know….
“The ramblings of our current POTUS are also a great threat to the wars escalation. ”
So it’s not the guy who started the war by actually invading another country who’s triggering escalation… it’s Biden? In fact even if Putin had never invaded the Ukrain we’d still be facing the threat of nuclear escalation because… well because BIDEN! Or Biden’s son… one way or another it ALL comes back to Biden… or Hillary… or Obama, but NOT Putin. And they wonder why they get accused of sympathizing with Putin?
All I can say is these are the same guys that thought stealing a US election was a great idea, and support the most dictatorial POTUS in US history, all while praising Putin as a guy they can work with for years now. So we understand that THESE guys aren’t the REAL patriots in the room right? Remember how these guys attacked Sanders for expressing a smidgen of sympathy for Cuba? Whatever.
Hmm I wonder how they’ll spin the actual Russian state media saying it’s time for regime change in the US, to install their “partner” Trump, back into office? I’m sure it’s all part of the conspiracy somehow.
Hell, “real patriot” Trump just called on his idol Vladimir the Terrible to release “damaging information” on Biden or the Biden family. (This after having been impeached over a past demand to Ukraine for interference in an upcoming election. And after his famous “Russia, if you are listening” plea.) Of course, any such info from Czar Putin would be seen as highly credible, no doubt.
But Biden is the real threat to America, obviously…
After reading .comments here, I say bring on the apocalypse
Be honest Greg… you were all for the apocalypse even before you saw these comments weren’t you?