QUESTION: Hi Marty,
Would it not be better for Putin to follow the American model and invade all of Ukraine vs. using nuclear weapons? There is still time to execute such a strategy.
Taking control of all of Ukraine would give Russia control of the borders, hence no more major offensive weapons would cross to Ukraine from Poland.
On the flip side, using nuclear weapons is bad PR. The public opinion is against nuclear weapons, so if Putin were to use them, NATO would then have an excuse to enter the conflict directly. All it would take is a PR spin.
Cheers from Canada,
Lucas
ANSWER: If Russia nuked Ukraine, that would not provide a legal excuse for NATO since Ukraine is not a member of NATO. The whole criticism of Putin in Russia is that he has been too “soft” because he is too nostalgic and regards Kiev as the first capital of the Rus. To him, nuking Kiev would be like the US nuking London. He launched his “special” operation to defend the Donbas because the West lied about the Minsk Agreement to buy time for Ukraine to create an army.
The problem we really face is that the West has conspired to create war with Russia and to use Ukraine as cannon fodder. From the start, Zelensky has drafted 18 to 60-year-olds. Tass has reported that Ukrainian prisoners taken recently are 16 and 17-year-olds.
The West does not care about the Ukrainian people. The more civilians killed, the better. That will enable the West to rally troops for revenge. This war could have ended in 10 minutes. All the West had to do was to allow Ukraine to seek peace and honor the Minsk Agreement – nothing more.
But the West is outright trying to destroy Russia and the bankers are in line once again licking their lips at all the wealth of Russia from gold and platinum to rare earths, diamonds, and energy. Just as I was solicited to join them back in 1999 and I refused, they are back again cheering war.
The Ukrainian people have nothing to gain from this. The Donbas is occupied by Russians for hundreds of years. The Ukrainian people NEVER had a country. They finally got one in 1991 and they are throwing that all away for the Donbas. Zelensky will fly at the last moment to Florida when Ukraine falls. This is the leader of a country who takes orders from foreign powers.
