Russia Ready to Launch Nuclear Attacks? By James Reed
This is something to be concerned about, if the story can be trusted. There has been a leak of Russian plans drawn up between 2008 and 2014, for nuclear strikes across Western Europe. According to an unnamed NATO source, there were, and perhaps still are, thousands of targets for tactical nuclear weapons attack. "They see (tactical nuclear warheads) as potentially war-winning weapons," says Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey and an arms control expert. "They're going to want to use them, and they're going to want to use them pretty quickly."
While it is obvious that in time of war, propaganda circulates, I think the report is probably close to the truth. Russia would be foolish not to have such a plan. It goes against the Mutually Assured Destruction mythology, but the late Dr Peter Pry argued that such doctrines are not accepted by either Russia or China, who instead have an escalate to de-escalate policy. If so, there needs to be great caution in dealing with both of these countries, which is not occurring now. Instead, Democrats and neo-cons are playing a game of nuclear chicken with Russia, who as Trump said, have nukes that work. More than the US by the way.
"Western sources have reportedly leaked Russian plans drawn up between 2008 and 2014 for "a series of overwhelming strikes across Western Europe," the Financial Times reported.
Citing documents from Western security sources, Putin allegedly sought to enable the Russian navy to execute nuclear strikes within NATO territory were a conflict with the alliance to emerge.
Targets would not be solely military. According to William Alberque, a former NATO official, "There could be hundreds, if not thousands, of targets mapped across Europe, including military and infrastructure targets."
Russia is also evidently still capable of transporting nuclear weapons on surface ships, which experts say carries a significant risk of escalation or accident. The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I), signed by the U.S. and Russia in 1991, was supposed to have eliminated this possibility, although many have often questioned Moscow's adherence to it.
Possible targets presented by the FT included the west coast of France, military installations in Norway, Germany, and Estonia, as well as the British port town of Barrow-in-Furness, known for its production of nuclear submarines.
"They see (tactical nuclear warheads) as potentially war-winning weapons," says Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey and an arms control expert. "They're going to want to use them, and they're going to want to use them pretty quickly."
Anton Bendarzsevszkij, director of the Oeconomus Economic Research Foundation, has said that "there is a global arms race that resembles the Cold War of the 1950s and 60s," according to Mandiner.
Russia is said to have north of 5,500 nuclear warheads in its arsenal, while the United States has just over 5,000, meaning the two countries control some 90 percent of such weapons today.
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