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Putin’s smaller, tactical nuclear weapons may be used in Ukraine conflict (war games)

#1
C C Offline
SUMMARY: Russia has a 10:1 advantage over the US in nonstrategic (i.e., low-yield) nuclear weapons—aka tactical or battlefield nukes.

Because the disparity between Russian and U.S. tactical nuclear weapons is so large, Moscow may perceive a NATO nuclear response to lack credibility.

Moscow’s advantage in nonstrategic nuclear weapons could encourage greater risk-taking now and in the future, deeply undermining European security.

Small nuclear weapons are a much better weapon of terror and intimidation. They can be as a part of a last-ditch effort by Mr. Putin to halt the Ukrainian counteroffensive, by threatening to make elements of Ukraine uninhabitable.

The situations of how the Russians may do it differ broadly. The targets might be a Ukrainian navy base or a small metropolis. How much destruction — and lingering radiation — would result depends on components, together with the scale of the weapon and the winds. However, even a small nuclear explosion might trigger hundreds of deaths and render a base or a downtown space uninhabitable for years.

Nonetheless, the dangers for Mr. Putin might simply outweigh any gains. His nation might change into a global pariah, and the West would attempt to capitalize on the detonation to attempt to carry China and India, and others who are shopping for Russian oil and fuel, into sanctions they’ve resisted.

Then there may be the issue of prevailing winds: The radiation launched by Russian weapons might simply blow again into Russian territory.


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https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/26/europe/ru...index.html

EXCERPTS: . . . Tactical warheads refer to ones designed for use in a limited battlefield, say to destroy a column of tanks or an aircraft carrier battle group if used at sea. These warheads, with explosive yields of 10 to 100 kilotons of dynamite, are also called “low yield.”

In contrast, Russia’s most powerful strategic nuclear warheads have explosive yields of 500 to 800 kilotons and are designed to destroy entire cities – and then some.

The reference to “low yield” for tactical weapons is somewhat misleading as explosive yields of 10 to 100 kilotons of TNT are still enough to cause major destruction – as the world discovered in 1945 when the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.

Those bombs were the equivalent about 15 and 21 kilotons of dynamite, respectively – within the ballpark of Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons.

[...] Others, including former US Defense Secretary James Mattis, say there’s no difference at all between the two types.

“I don’t think there is any such thing as a ‘tactical nuclear weapon.’ Any nuclear weapon used any time is a strategic game-changer,” he told a congressional hearing in 2018.

Russia (and before it, the Soviet Union) has built and maintained a large stockpile of tactical nuclear weapons.

The initial thinking was that using a nuke on a battlefield gave leaders an option to make a decisive strike that could stave off defeat without resorting to the use of their biggest nuclear weapons, which after a counterattack would bring a “civilization-ending nuclear exchange,” according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.

On its website, the organization calls that thinking “flawed and dangerous.”

“Tactical nuclear weapons … introduce greater ambiguity, raising the possibility that a country might think it could get away with a limited attack,” the organization said. Some analysis supports that theory...  (MORE - missing details)
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#2
Kornee Offline
The evident aim there is to point the finger of dangerous irresponsibility entirely Russia's way. Some may still, despite generally short memory spans, recall my recent post here:
https://www.scivillage.com/thread-12941-...l#pid53430
Now - hand over heart while sing'n the Star Spangled Bannah. Don't even think to ask which ethnic group of conniving schemers runs the good ol US of A.
Not necessarily in the interests of it's dumbed down citizenry. The kind that willingly enlist to go and bleed and die and mega kill to 'fight terrorists' in wars that strangely often seem to benefit one foreign state in particular. The latter saving countless trillions of $$$$s thereby. Hmmm...

Yeah I'm sort of in a revved up mood. Call it anger.
PS - I never cease to be amazed at where some threads get to be pigeon-holed.
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#3
RainbowUnicorn Offline
The nuclear train is heading north to Siberia probably for a film shoot to make more propaganda movies and try to impress the poor farmer people into believing the russian military is high tech
when they are losing and losing badly and have no computer chips to build anything
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#4
Zinjanthropos Offline
Ehhh…the Russians should throw a big monkey wrench into the conflict and apply to join NATO. They should have done it before the shooting started.
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#5
C C Offline
Zelenskyy Calls For Preemptive NATO Strikes Against Russia Before Putin Launches Nukes
https://dailycaller.com/2022/10/06/zelen...tin-nukes/

INTRO: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on NATO to launch preemptive strikes against Russia to deter them from using a nuclear weapon in Ukraine in public remarks made on Wednesday.

Speaking via satellite to the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, Zelenskyy said that “preventative strikes” are needed, “so that they know what will happen if they use [a nuke].” He claimed that this was the only way to “exclude the possibility of use of nuclear weapons by Russia.” (MORE - details)

https://youtu.be/e1IT_2ujZXU

Oct 6, 2022 - Zelensky calls on NATO to launch "preemptive strikes" against Russia

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/e1IT_2ujZXU
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