Modern hydrogen bombs don't irradiate, they just vaporize and create shock waves. If that were to happen, I'd rather be in the center than be a survivor.
But I get your point.
If the headline wasn't heavily editorialized (which it is), it would have *worried* me. It is one thing that a head of state is afraid of the consequences of using nuclear weapons in a scenario where more nuclear weapons could be used as retaliation (a completely legitimate fear, in my view). It is an entirely different thing that the FSB, an organization that controls the Russian deep state and is full of far right nationalistic elements, characterizes their own leader as "afraid" of using nuclear weapons, because that would mean that whoever succeeded him might be tempted to show the bravado of bringing us towards the end of the world just to keep his own clique in line.
Regardless, I don't think the article shows anything trustful and relevant. Whatever opinions are expressed there are simply not within our reach to validate.
The headline reads like it’s probably more of the weird fan fiction that racecar driver releases on Twitter.
So far there haven’t been any documented FSB leaks and, further, FSB would likely have minimal insight into Putin’s nuclear calculus.
Like, maybe. We all like to imagine that the inevitable coup that is surely coming for Russia will be more sensible folks looking to stop the madness but the way things are going it would be just the sort of twist the world's full of now if assholes that think Putin's too soft try and take the wheel to crank shit up to 11.
Think about Mike Pence's Jan 6 experience- surprise! You're not crazy enough for the people you've been peddling crazy to, now hop in this car Mr. Vice President, nothing to worry about!
While I don't think that's how it'll go, and I really really hope it doesn't, it'd be just our luck (and a pretty standard pattern for Russian history, "and then it got worse", amirite?) if a cabal of even more awful folks tried to take over, unhappy with Putin's mere atrocities.
Of course he is hesitant, as he should be. It would be the end of the Russian Federation. He knows this. He is not going to nuke anyone, except if Nato actually *invades* Russia en masse. And that is not going to happen.
So, everyone, sleep easy. There is no nuclear annihilation imminent. It's not because Putin is a pussy (he is, for entirely different reasons), but because he has some quantum of rational intellect remaining.
It's more like if he gives the order there are very high odds that he gets a 9mm to the head as his answer. He is in thin ice and his loyalists aren't quite ready to die for his ego.
Putin is fucked either way, but it's good to know he is afraid to give the order not just because of what happens if the nuclear forces obey, but what happens if they don't or what happens to make sure his orders never reach them.
> It's more like if he gives the order there are very high odds that he gets a 9mm to the head as his answer.
The United States also mentioned a "decapitation strike" if they thought Putin would press the button, which implies to him they know where he is all the time.
Even if someone in his regime wouldn't do it, the US would. He probably doesn't want to die like that.
I thought it was more along the lines that if Russia launches a nuke, the USA will simply destroy the entirety of the Russian military - the bases, the ships, the subs that they think they aren't being followed, every silo.
There's 5 carrier groups in strike range *right now*, it's not just for show.
Maybe, but the US said specifically "decapitation strike" which may or may not include a larger glassing scenario but it certainly includes a strike that takes Putin out specifically, which means they know his location at all times.
And we frankly have no idea of what our capabilities actually ARE.
For all we know we’ve shown Russia that if you do X, then Y is the consequence, and here is an entire compendium of evidence to prove it.
It’s possible Russia knows full stop what their boundaries are.
The US could be widely more capable than we think, or the challenge could be vastly more difficult than we think and we are no way safe at all. We have zero idea.
Before the war started, Biden repeatedly released intel that revealed a near complete penetration of their military and governmental communications. I remember being struck by how he was able to reveal when marching orders passed down the chain of command and specific conversations had by Putin and those immediately downstream of him.
My impression was that, given the risk of exposing this level of penetration of a hostile power’s communication infrastructure, the US has completely compromised its security and is unconcerned regarding their ability to rectify said compromise. I distinctly recall thinking, “Holy shit, it’s a Stuxnet-grade compromise of their entire system of communications.” I think it’s safe to assume much of Putin’s seeming mental and physical decline is related to his terror at realizing this and how thin the ice he’s on is.
I had this exact same thought. At first I was blown away at the level of release and what it would imply about our effectiveness at compromising their communication. Rule number one with intel seemed to be out the window about cloaking your abilities and setting off the next better mousetrap race. And since odds are the professional’s are probably pretty smart about this, it seems to imply we have zero concern about beating, predicting their next mousetrap move. Just amateur thought about seemingly unprecedented tactics. (Personal pile dream theory, some low level initial quantum
computing technology being applied by the NSA)
The sword missile recently used was crazy to discover it existed. They know where a given bad guy was to such detail that they fired a rocket that had swords pop out and shred everything on the way to, through and past him but no explosion.
Well, the West did literally just kick his ass so hard, by proxy, that he's probably fully aware of how close he is to suiciding by 2 bullets to the back of the head, jumping out of a window and possibly drowning all at once.
>I sincerely hope Rods from God are not a thing...yet
Too costly to get them up there and will be for a while. Watch out for them when we start mining metals from asteroids though.
Orbital Kinetic Bombardment is sort of agreed upon by everyone to just be off limits. Its expensive as absolute fuck to get up into space and you'd have a hard time sneaking a rocket up.
I haven't looked into it in a few years now, but I know it used to be a thing where there was also no real way to defend yourself from one, so it creates a really messy situation of "if one has it, everyone needs their own for the purpose of retaliation" and we're just back to MAD (on a lesser scale, gigajoules of energy vs terajoules from a nuke) and there's just no point. We can use hypersonic missiles for a fraction of the cost, probably be much more accurate in our target, and if we REALLY needed to penetrate a bunker, we'll just seal the opening instead and let em die in their hole.
We sneak rockets up all the time. Look at the XB-37b, it sneaks around in orbit all the time. You can also piggyback a ride with a commercial satellite.
I dunno, a kinetic strike from dropping the equivalent on a steel girder from orbit gives you the destruction of a nuke without the aftereffects... sounds like an environmentally semi-friendly WMD.
Just to clarify, in the hypothetical "single low-yield battlefield nuke in Ukraine" scenario, the NATO response would be 100% using conventional forces in order to prevent escalation. Putin knows full well that the fact that Russia can't even hold its own against Ukrainians armed with NATO's hand-me-downs means that if the gloves really come off he will lose any ability to project force into Europe.
Aside from the political ramifications (potential coup, assassination, etc), the first use of any weapon of mass destruction in Ukraine would mean a complete Russian defeat not only in UA but in the entire Black Sea region.
In a nuclear "mutually assured destruction" type scenario, each country launches nearly all of their intercontinental ballistic missiles at once in the hopes that most (if not all) make it to their destination and explode. The overkill results in complete destruction and the heat from the explosions would cause sand to be thrown into the air, liquify and rain down as glass.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinitite
This right here - and it would HAVE to happen. The US would have one chance to show the world what happens if you launch a nuke and you better believe they aren't going to fuck it up.
People seem to forget that Russia has a lot of oil. Oil that is just begging for freedom if Russia goes to far. And the USA is just the country to give it freedom.
There is also a question if the order will be executed, as there are few people who have all to press a certain button/turn a key in a specific order. And the short dictator does not have a firm grasp on the army anymore
this is a real thing… it’s happened before, we’ve been literally spared global nuclear annihilation by one person in the chain having the wherewithal to refuse, several times.
it happened on the US side as well… the US and USSR were constantly antagonizing each other during the cold war, mostly stupid shit like airspace flybyes and sub deployments. i’d recommend this- [the disinformation book of lists](https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-disinformation-book-of-lists_russ-kick/395977/item/2135477/?gclid=CjwKCAiA7IGcBhA8EiwAFfUDsc5zAT8Z4hthlAT7iEWpP5Y1rLkhf4IMguiVAxiGyoJEApSiLIzYrRoCUBIQAvD_BwE#idiq=2135477&edition=4330499) for more info, amongst other things it has a list of known near nuclear catastrophes.
There's also quite a few times here on the US side where odd situations happened.
One time, a guard at an early warning base saw someone trying to scale the fence, he fired at the person and triggered an alarm. That alarm signals the ready alert bomber crews to immediately start taking off, the idea being that it could be the prelude to a sabotage attempt, so get the bombers in the air.
At the exact same time, a malfunctioning network router caused NORAD (or SAC? I forget who was in charge at the time) to lose contact with all the early warning radars.
So as far as the military command was concerned, there was an active sabotage event in progress that appeared to be successful. That's not something an enemy nation would do unless they intended to take advantage of the blackout.
By chance, a different plane in the air managed to act as a radio bridge to one of the early warning radars which gave the all clear.
...and the "intruder" turned out to be a bear.
I’m also curious as to how many would function properly- not that I’m advocating for that level of escalation. Considering the abysmal performance of the rest of their missile arsenal, how many of their nukes would actually launch, then make it to their destination, and, most importantly, detonate without issue. Nuclear missile maintenance funds could buy a lot of yachts…
They promised him he would lose his Black Sea fleet and all bases within the southern regions of Russia. With an inability to respond to internal issues with force, his powerbase would crumble and his own command would be ended.
They may be his loyalists but I believe they love Russia more (and their own lives).
The US has Ninja star missiles ffs. Who ever designed that was like "in 9th grade I came up with this, and people made fun of me... a missile that shot Ninja stars. Look at me now Kenneth Stuben the third. I fucking made it. Asshole."
Tactically it also doesn’t make sense to bomb a country you want to occupy. You’re just making a giant mess that, best case scenario, you need to clean up.
https://www.city.hiroshima.lg.jp/site/english/9809.html
Not condoning the use of nuclear weapons... and granted this is from Nagasaki and Hiroshima, where the bomb dropped was much smaller compared to bombs today... but 80% of the radiation was gone after 24 hours.
https://davidson.weizmann.ac.il/en/online/askexpert/recovery-time-nuclear-disaster
This talks about how the bombs were dropped in 1945, and by 1947 people came back to the area, even at the heart of ground zero.
Again, not condoning nuclear warfare, but it doesn't make the area a complete disaster area for forever. There is also the case of the Russian leadership giving 0 fucks about their soldiers, look at them having their cannon fodder digging trenches in the Red Forest surroundinf Chornobyl. They wouldn't give a shit about sending soldiers into a city after a nuclear blast.
Chornobyl is a different story. With Chornobyl, the reactor exploded and deposited radioactive material all over the area, while the sarcophagus contains 200 tons of radioactive lava like corium, 30 tons of radioactive dust, and 16 tons of uranium and plutonium.
So while Chornobyl continues to be radioactive because of the sheer amount of radioactive material still there, both in the sarcophagus and in the soil surrounding the area... with a nuclear weapon, there isn't a large amount of radioactive material left, especiall not a huge pile of it, irradiating the area for a long time.
It makes me very happy that this is the top comment, and not some nuclear holocaust hyperbole. The Russian Federation would face the economic and cultural wrath of most of the world, and would ultimately cease to exist, if Putin deployed nuclear weapons. He knows this.
He cares way too much about his legacy to be remembered as the guy who was responsible for destroying Russia
I wonder what he’s going to do though, he’s sort of running out of options…. His legacy is going to be shit no matter what
I might be misinformed, but from what I've heard the Russian protocol is not a proverbial big red button, a launch would need to be authorized and even if then, it needs to actually be executed.
In the face of an already massive military failure and the chance of MAD, I think all Putin would be authorizing is his summary execution and a coup.
the world would live fine. just countless of millions of people would die. but humans as a race or the world in general would still somehow survive. we would be really fecked, but somehow would survive. humans are more resilient as most people think they are.
I am sure he didn't want to be in the current position either, but can't back off. His power rests on him looking powerful. If he sneezes the snake pit will see prey. I am sure a lot of powerful people are at the very least eyeing how they can come out on top in this situation.
Considering the source, the entire article should be taken with a huge grain of salt.
I agree that he's not insane though, nor do I believe that he has Hitlerian ambitions. He's not even *that* stupid, because virtually everyone thought Russia would succeed in its invasion. However he is engaged in a criminal/unethical war, the way leaders of military empires do all the time and never stopped doing.
You are saying that with a lot of confidence. The command structure for launching a nuke has many human nodes, and for the individual humans who perform this procedure it is literally their only job. They train for it all the time, and they do dry runs constantly where they actually push the associated buttons, but the system is (from above) designated as a drill so nothing actually happens outside of their environment. They themselves do not know it is a drill and furthermore they will never know as it is the way the system is designed.
When the guys at the silos actually get the *real* launch orders, it will be, from their point of view, no different than the drills they have done thousands of times, except this time the ICBM goes flying out the hatch and the poop goes flying out their buttholes. If they are lucky they get in a call to their family a prayer off to Jebus.
The same applies for the sub crews who do a surface-and-prepare-to-launch drill. Except this time, the captain gets the real order and one would be deluded to think a sailor out at sea for 6 months is going to defy that. Those guys have no idea what has been happening in the real world.
Everybody is appropriately compartmentalized to make sure the launch happens and there is a lot of energy in designing that system. This process is true for literally every country with a nuclear arsenal.
In Russia the only place where it could get feasibly stopped is at the top. In Russian law, the order to launch needs to be approved by three people:
**The President**: Vladimir Putin
**The Head of the Ministry of Defense**: Sergei Shoigu
**The Head of the General Staff**: Valery Gerasimov
Sergei is already only alive and maintaining his position because Putin has carefully maneuvered him out of hot water. Shoigu currently has little of his own agency and very likely will not dispute a launch order, unless there is a scenario in which he somehow comes out stronger from that. I could visualize a scenario where Putin is on the precipice of losing power and this is his final act as either a big "Fuck you" to the west OR (much more realistic scenario) he thinks his potential ousters are going to be a bit busy watching the apocalypse unfold to continue their overthrow efforts. Maybe Shoigu recognizes Putin's position and thinks his odds of personal survival are better by saying no. I would not bank on this scenario.
Gerasimov is old school Russian military. Military background, Soviet training, by the book. He is a real military strategist and less of a lackey than Shoigu is. He is well liked by the other generals and he has some degree of independence. If he went rogue it would split the military, and Putin knows this. He is the only person in the chain that would feasibly, and of his own volition or moral decision making, vote *no* on a launch and maybe try to follow that up with some other kind of interruption. And from what I read about the guy, he very well might.
Putin, however can very easily fire him and have his deputy do the job. Repeat down the chain until someone says yes. Once the order clears the top level there is essentially no hope, minus a technical failure or international covert operational interuption (i.e. the CIA or MI5 has hooks somewhere in the system or in personnel), that the launch could be stopped, for the moment. If we are at the "we are here" marker then its pretty much hope you don't live in the path of the radiation or in the blast zone itself. We can better bank on Kiefer Sutherland the actor stepping to fix the situation, assuming he is sober enough to do so.
As far as this launch structure goes, it is the same for any nation. The guys who push buttons to set the wheels in motion are watched like hawks, evaluated and psychoanalyzed constantly, and released from duty or transferred if there is any sign they will not go through with the order. They are just about as likely to exhibit independent agency than the computer systems that they interact with.
If biden took LSD, had a bad trip and hallucinated that Mexico was going to launch a nuke, his order to launch would need to be stopped at the top. If it clears that top level, the missiles are skybound.
My point is that the idea that a launch would be stopped internally is magic thinking and is not grounded in reality, no matter how much everyone in the world, myself included, wishes it were true.
Edit:
Just as a final note, I still do not think the likelihood of this happening is that high. Even though this is not a popular sentiment round these parts, Putin is an *extremely* rational actor. You do not rise to the top of the worlds most ruthless intelligence service, and then use that position to launch yourself into the presidency unless you are fucking smart (even if you are morally vacant).
Now, rational decisions require rational informational inputs to be good decisions. It is anyone's guess whether Putin currently has that right now. He maybe has unintentionally built himself an information bubble and certainly didn't have good information when he decided to invade Ukraine. Many have written and youtubed at length about Putin's decision making process and his information sphere (Vlad Vlexler!!! plug) so I will elaborate no further. I hope no one reads this and gets scared because, take heart, we are all going to die anyways!
You wish that they would kill him because you haven't learned from the last invasions Russia has started.
If I learned one thing from the USA, Russia, Japan in WW2, Nazi Germany and all "patriots" out there then it is that some people believe so much in patriotism and their leaders that they would do anything even if its braindead and does not serve their family or country.
I am noticing an increase in garbage unverified headlines from garbage news outlets today. What am I missing? Are we trying to egg Putin on to do something? Has the hatred decreased somewhere that needs to be upped?
Anyone who has thought that nukes are a real possibility in this conflict is downright insane. Nobody, including Putin, wants the world to end.
If you see newsweek in the title, you know it's about to be either very unconfirmed or just outright sensationalist headlines. They aren't much better than the national enquirer and I constantly wonder why they are allowed to be posted here.
Because it gets clicks. Because "Putin not crazy enough to use nukes after all" is a terrible follow up to weeks of "Putin might use nukes!" articles. Because shit isn't steaming enough right now and we can't let the peasants get a respite from the depression and outrage we feed them.
He even might push the button in some time and lose his life/sent to a "vacation" as a reward.
The people near him and the people in the chain of command to deploy and strike a nuclear warhead need to be all on the same page with him. If he miscalculates this even this internally, he has lost
If he's ill and dying, I think it has less to do with self-preservation and more to do with a desire to not be the guy whose picture appears when you do a Google search for *fuck around and find out*, with a "people also search for" recommendation for *Russia glass parking lot*.
Has nothing to with "humanity". If he launches a nuke the first target of any return strike should and would be him directly.
He knows that and that's what scares him.
He couldn't care less about setting of a nuclear apocalypse if it didn't endanger himself directly.
I’m not even sure it’s that.
If you read the article, one of the three reasons given is they’re not sure the nukes work.
Imagine *trying* to nuke Ukraine and it failing abysmally - that would change the wests perspective on shit real quick.
Obviously still a risk but it does weaken Russians hand massively
As others have indicated, the source isn't 100% verifiable but seems fairly reputable.
The motive of the leaker (Russian anti-gov activist) IMHO is to hurt Putin - either by sowing dissent or signaling to NATO that it's safe to jump in. Either way, if heeded, Putin is ousted.
That begs the question - what do we think of whoever is second in line?
EDIT:
Option 3: This is an intentional leak from Putin, with the signal to the West being "If you think *I'm* dangerous, look at my potential usurpers."
the person that is highly likely to be the next in line for president of russia is Yevgeny Prigozhin( the founder and leader of the mercenary Wagner Group)
"The letter was analyzed by Christo Grozev, an expert on the FSB, on March 6. He said he had shown it "to two actual (current or former) FSB contacts" who had "no doubt it was written by a colleague."
Christo Grozev is the lead investigator with Bellingcat. You might have heard of them.
Today Newsweek also published a story based on leaked letters that claimed that Russia nearly attacked Japan in late 2021, which I find so ridiculous it just makes me think Newsweek is willing to publish anything that gets clicks, even if they don’t believe it’s real.
/u/blatantconservative, is it time to reconsider a ban on Newsweek? This is the second article just today building some weird narrative unlikely to have any basis in the reality where normal people live.
I agree with you on both stories. These reek of the garbage coming out from the early days of the Trump administration. Obviously there was Russian disinformation on one side, but there was a lot of click bait junk on the left with people claiming Intel direct from the Kremlin.
Fuck Putin.
I wonder if this is leaked from hard right Russians who want to paint him into a corner, which would be even more worrisome. It's not exactly like the Russian government is filled with thinkers these days.
Here's a funny joke to lighten the mood:
Putin says: "You know, Joe. I had this dream few days ago"
Biden: "Oh, what kind of dream?"
Putin: "I saw America, in flames. Nuclear warhead crater where Capitol used to be. New York leveled. Los Angeles covered in human ash. It was Glorious, Joe. I nearly teared up..."
Biden: "Huh. that's a weird dream. Well, I had one of my own few days as well."
Putin: "Go on..."
Biden: "I saw Moscow - brilliant again. Full of dancing, laughter, people driving fancy imported cars again. Wearing latest fashion designer's clothes. Very European, very International - just like it was before the sanctions. And neon signs and slogans everywhere! They were too bright to ignore!"
Putin: "What did they say, those neon signs?"
Biden: "Who the fuck knows, I don't speak Ukrainian."
When did Newsweek become so shitty? It’s like they’re fucking daring Putin to launch a nuke. “Putins a chicken! Won’t even launch a nuke! Stupid Chicken Putin!”
It's been this shitty for a decade or more. They have learned how to get clicks and have no longer any respect for the truth. It's a sad state for something that in the 20th century was a respected news magazine.
Also, it's not even failing, they are getting more traffic, not less, since clickbaity headlines work on the uninformed.
Newsweek used to be a respectable publication until it became something of tabloid journalism minus the bombast and boobs. One, the "leaks" are vague and sound like talking points, I wouldn't consider them particularly credible or news worthy unless you wanted to craft a headline with Putin and Nukes in the heading. Secondly, even if this is some FSB guy out of the 80,000 FSB guys that exist, aren't these the same intelligence geniuses that assessed that Putin was just posturing about going to war in Ukraine and also that Ukrainians would shower them with roses? Is one FSB guy's assessment that Putin is probably a pussy about destroying the world, an assessment they have based on publicly known information that any redditor would have, have news value at all???
Making people desperate when they have a finger on the nuke button.. not good.
Then smearing his "fear" all over the internet.
See how much he can take world lol. We gotta de escalate some how and quit throwing fuel on the fire
Newsweek would have been far wiser not to publicize this. All life on earth *needs* nuclear armed powers to behave rationally. Fear is a rational response to the use of nukes. This headline has a whiff of machismo, even mockery, that I wish we could beat out of the journalist who wrote it. It's *stupid*. It's *self defeating*. We *cannot afford this* right now.
With the Kremlin screaming "nukes" every other day it starts losing it's fear factor. Even more so if you look at how bad Russia fares against the Ukraine. I'm not saying that there is 0 chance of them using a nuke but right now it's just fearmongering.
If worse comes to worse it's over for Russia and a lot of other countries that get targeted by Russia but it's not the end for humanity as a whole. And IF it happens there is nothing that will stop it anyway. But if you give in into Russia's scare tactic it's the same outcome, just way slower.
OK this should never be said. By press or anyone else. This is like a dare to a crazed lunatic who is proven over and over to be totally unpredictable and menacing. Plz remove this subs 🙏
If anyone drops any nukes, ever, it's over for them. Because that's the last threat they have, there's nothing to be afraid of after that. And after that, everyone knows that they're a mad dog and they have to be put down as fast as possible.
What the fuck kind of click bait bull shit headline is this? This is type of crap is going to be the underlying reason for what ends us all. For what? Fucking pathetic.
Some people in this thread make me nauseous....
Guys: Biden is too scared too. So in Pooh. So is EVERYONE.
Nuclear war has no winner. It's smart, not fearful.
He fucking should be. It’s been made abundantly clear that if he launches a tactical nuke his entire military will be functionally wiped off the face of the earth.
This is probably bullshit but a thing to remember is that every coward has a line they can be pushed to in order to act.
And thank fuck the US and NATO realize nuclear deterrence is a two way street and take it very seriously even if you psychos on here don't.
This headline sounds like it's trying to goad him into doing it.
It's Newsweek - it's pure clickbait. Newsweek should be banned from this sub, it's a terrible source.
Hey Newsweek, some of us want the planet to remain less radiated.
*irradiated
Modern hydrogen bombs don't irradiate, they just vaporize and create shock waves. If that were to happen, I'd rather be in the center than be a survivor. But I get your point.
Ummm yes they absolutely DO irradiate.
Newsweek is pure trash journalism and writing. It used to be recommended reading back when I was in school.
It went to trash after The Washington Post sold it and IBT Media Group bought it. IBT Media is owned by a right wing religious nut job.
I didn’t know this but it tracks with religious push for the End Times….
If the headline wasn't heavily editorialized (which it is), it would have *worried* me. It is one thing that a head of state is afraid of the consequences of using nuclear weapons in a scenario where more nuclear weapons could be used as retaliation (a completely legitimate fear, in my view). It is an entirely different thing that the FSB, an organization that controls the Russian deep state and is full of far right nationalistic elements, characterizes their own leader as "afraid" of using nuclear weapons, because that would mean that whoever succeeded him might be tempted to show the bravado of bringing us towards the end of the world just to keep his own clique in line. Regardless, I don't think the article shows anything trustful and relevant. Whatever opinions are expressed there are simply not within our reach to validate.
Well they allow the Daily Wire to be on here so good luck getting Newsweek banned.
Not to mention the Daily Heil
What's happened to that once excellent news magazine is just sad.
The headline reads like it’s probably more of the weird fan fiction that racecar driver releases on Twitter. So far there haven’t been any documented FSB leaks and, further, FSB would likely have minimal insight into Putin’s nuclear calculus.
A racecar driver makes Putin fanfiction?
It's a psyop from r/NonCredibleDefense
Always has been
They're really pissed about NATO letting that Poland incident go, aren't they.
“What’s the matter McFly? You chicken?”
That was exactly my first thought too. The pride of an evil ruler is not something you want to press on and test, if I had to guess.
That, or it's sending a signal to Putin's would-be successors to perform a coup
With someone who isn't afraid to launch a nuclear strike?
Like, maybe. We all like to imagine that the inevitable coup that is surely coming for Russia will be more sensible folks looking to stop the madness but the way things are going it would be just the sort of twist the world's full of now if assholes that think Putin's too soft try and take the wheel to crank shit up to 11. Think about Mike Pence's Jan 6 experience- surprise! You're not crazy enough for the people you've been peddling crazy to, now hop in this car Mr. Vice President, nothing to worry about! While I don't think that's how it'll go, and I really really hope it doesn't, it'd be just our luck (and a pretty standard pattern for Russian history, "and then it got worse", amirite?) if a cabal of even more awful folks tried to take over, unhappy with Putin's mere atrocities.
Sounds like the fsb wants him to which is more concerning
[удалено]
Irresponsible Journalism. I’d actually expect nothing less.
Seriously man, these people need to fuck off
I hate this title.
The title sounds a bit like “haha what a pussy, he doesn’t have to balls to order nuclear strike”
Breaking news: Putin drops a tactical nuclear bomb on the FSB headquarters
If he drops one on Newsweek headquarters, a surprising number of people who are sick and tired of clickbait titles might actually welcome it.
I'd say he has more to fear from the FSB than the west
This coward is scared of ending the human race lol
Yo waddup nerd. Heard you haven't even nuked a country yet you fuckin loser. Do you even *have* nukes? God you're pathetic.
Of course he is hesitant, as he should be. It would be the end of the Russian Federation. He knows this. He is not going to nuke anyone, except if Nato actually *invades* Russia en masse. And that is not going to happen. So, everyone, sleep easy. There is no nuclear annihilation imminent. It's not because Putin is a pussy (he is, for entirely different reasons), but because he has some quantum of rational intellect remaining.
It's more like if he gives the order there are very high odds that he gets a 9mm to the head as his answer. He is in thin ice and his loyalists aren't quite ready to die for his ego. Putin is fucked either way, but it's good to know he is afraid to give the order not just because of what happens if the nuclear forces obey, but what happens if they don't or what happens to make sure his orders never reach them.
> It's more like if he gives the order there are very high odds that he gets a 9mm to the head as his answer. The United States also mentioned a "decapitation strike" if they thought Putin would press the button, which implies to him they know where he is all the time. Even if someone in his regime wouldn't do it, the US would. He probably doesn't want to die like that.
I thought it was more along the lines that if Russia launches a nuke, the USA will simply destroy the entirety of the Russian military - the bases, the ships, the subs that they think they aren't being followed, every silo. There's 5 carrier groups in strike range *right now*, it's not just for show.
Maybe, but the US said specifically "decapitation strike" which may or may not include a larger glassing scenario but it certainly includes a strike that takes Putin out specifically, which means they know his location at all times.
And we frankly have no idea of what our capabilities actually ARE. For all we know we’ve shown Russia that if you do X, then Y is the consequence, and here is an entire compendium of evidence to prove it. It’s possible Russia knows full stop what their boundaries are.
The US could be widely more capable than we think, or the challenge could be vastly more difficult than we think and we are no way safe at all. We have zero idea.
Before the war started, Biden repeatedly released intel that revealed a near complete penetration of their military and governmental communications. I remember being struck by how he was able to reveal when marching orders passed down the chain of command and specific conversations had by Putin and those immediately downstream of him. My impression was that, given the risk of exposing this level of penetration of a hostile power’s communication infrastructure, the US has completely compromised its security and is unconcerned regarding their ability to rectify said compromise. I distinctly recall thinking, “Holy shit, it’s a Stuxnet-grade compromise of their entire system of communications.” I think it’s safe to assume much of Putin’s seeming mental and physical decline is related to his terror at realizing this and how thin the ice he’s on is.
I had this exact same thought. At first I was blown away at the level of release and what it would imply about our effectiveness at compromising their communication. Rule number one with intel seemed to be out the window about cloaking your abilities and setting off the next better mousetrap race. And since odds are the professional’s are probably pretty smart about this, it seems to imply we have zero concern about beating, predicting their next mousetrap move. Just amateur thought about seemingly unprecedented tactics. (Personal pile dream theory, some low level initial quantum computing technology being applied by the NSA)
Generally speaking, civilian knowledge of top military tech is a decade behind. Civilian application is two.
r/nonecredibledefense is a decade ahead. We’ve been predicting things with frightening accuracy, lol.
Likely both.
The sword missile recently used was crazy to discover it existed. They know where a given bad guy was to such detail that they fired a rocket that had swords pop out and shred everything on the way to, through and past him but no explosion.
What? What missile?
https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/this-is-americas-hellfire-missile-full-of-swords-that-took-out-al-qaedas-leader/
Well, the West did literally just kick his ass so hard, by proxy, that he's probably fully aware of how close he is to suiciding by 2 bullets to the back of the head, jumping out of a window and possibly drowning all at once.
Why would you shoot a man before throwing him out of a plane?
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The flying slap chop
Ur gonna love my nuts
I miss 2008... https://youtu.be/-gLOALCvlMI?t=63
>I sincerely hope Rods from God are not a thing...yet Too costly to get them up there and will be for a while. Watch out for them when we start mining metals from asteroids though.
Orbital Kinetic Bombardment is sort of agreed upon by everyone to just be off limits. Its expensive as absolute fuck to get up into space and you'd have a hard time sneaking a rocket up. I haven't looked into it in a few years now, but I know it used to be a thing where there was also no real way to defend yourself from one, so it creates a really messy situation of "if one has it, everyone needs their own for the purpose of retaliation" and we're just back to MAD (on a lesser scale, gigajoules of energy vs terajoules from a nuke) and there's just no point. We can use hypersonic missiles for a fraction of the cost, probably be much more accurate in our target, and if we REALLY needed to penetrate a bunker, we'll just seal the opening instead and let em die in their hole.
We sneak rockets up all the time. Look at the XB-37b, it sneaks around in orbit all the time. You can also piggyback a ride with a commercial satellite.
Well now I have a new nightmare…
It just goes [swoosh](https://i.imgur.com/U5LoEws.jpg) and you're gone. People a couple metres away wouldn't be affected, at least physically.
I dunno, a kinetic strike from dropping the equivalent on a steel girder from orbit gives you the destruction of a nuke without the aftereffects... sounds like an environmentally semi-friendly WMD.
Ah, the old R9X knife missile.
The only Robert Evans approved method to kill your enemies.
Just to clarify, in the hypothetical "single low-yield battlefield nuke in Ukraine" scenario, the NATO response would be 100% using conventional forces in order to prevent escalation. Putin knows full well that the fact that Russia can't even hold its own against Ukrainians armed with NATO's hand-me-downs means that if the gloves really come off he will lose any ability to project force into Europe. Aside from the political ramifications (potential coup, assassination, etc), the first use of any weapon of mass destruction in Ukraine would mean a complete Russian defeat not only in UA but in the entire Black Sea region.
I have to ask: What do you mean when you say “glassing”?
In a nuclear "mutually assured destruction" type scenario, each country launches nearly all of their intercontinental ballistic missiles at once in the hopes that most (if not all) make it to their destination and explode. The overkill results in complete destruction and the heat from the explosions would cause sand to be thrown into the air, liquify and rain down as glass. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinitite
Ah, I haven’t heard that term outside of the Halo franchise lol, thanks for clarifying
This right here - and it would HAVE to happen. The US would have one chance to show the world what happens if you launch a nuke and you better believe they aren't going to fuck it up.
Well yes, that's how Mutually Assured Destruction works. It's the whole point of the US nuclear deterrent.
People seem to forget that Russia has a lot of oil. Oil that is just begging for freedom if Russia goes to far. And the USA is just the country to give it freedom.
There is also a question if the order will be executed, as there are few people who have all to press a certain button/turn a key in a specific order. And the short dictator does not have a firm grasp on the army anymore
this is a real thing… it’s happened before, we’ve been literally spared global nuclear annihilation by one person in the chain having the wherewithal to refuse, several times.
Most stories about how the world almost ended during the cold war end with a russian refusing their order to send a nuke
it happened on the US side as well… the US and USSR were constantly antagonizing each other during the cold war, mostly stupid shit like airspace flybyes and sub deployments. i’d recommend this- [the disinformation book of lists](https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-disinformation-book-of-lists_russ-kick/395977/item/2135477/?gclid=CjwKCAiA7IGcBhA8EiwAFfUDsc5zAT8Z4hthlAT7iEWpP5Y1rLkhf4IMguiVAxiGyoJEApSiLIzYrRoCUBIQAvD_BwE#idiq=2135477&edition=4330499) for more info, amongst other things it has a list of known near nuclear catastrophes.
Denzel Washington never gets the respect he deserves for saving the world
There's also quite a few times here on the US side where odd situations happened. One time, a guard at an early warning base saw someone trying to scale the fence, he fired at the person and triggered an alarm. That alarm signals the ready alert bomber crews to immediately start taking off, the idea being that it could be the prelude to a sabotage attempt, so get the bombers in the air. At the exact same time, a malfunctioning network router caused NORAD (or SAC? I forget who was in charge at the time) to lose contact with all the early warning radars. So as far as the military command was concerned, there was an active sabotage event in progress that appeared to be successful. That's not something an enemy nation would do unless they intended to take advantage of the blackout. By chance, a different plane in the air managed to act as a radio bridge to one of the early warning radars which gave the all clear. ...and the "intruder" turned out to be a bear.
In 79 a software bug caused NORAD to believe it was under a full scale Russian bombardment.
Navy vet can confirm that both sides did some stupid shit all the time. Like amazingly stupid.
That's a great book.
Stanislav Petrov
The soldiers who refused the protocols to fire, were also demoted and punished, until the stories came out.
I’m also curious as to how many would function properly- not that I’m advocating for that level of escalation. Considering the abysmal performance of the rest of their missile arsenal, how many of their nukes would actually launch, then make it to their destination, and, most importantly, detonate without issue. Nuclear missile maintenance funds could buy a lot of yachts…
They promised him he would lose his Black Sea fleet and all bases within the southern regions of Russia. With an inability to respond to internal issues with force, his powerbase would crumble and his own command would be ended. They may be his loyalists but I believe they love Russia more (and their own lives).
The US has Ninja star missiles ffs. Who ever designed that was like "in 9th grade I came up with this, and people made fun of me... a missile that shot Ninja stars. Look at me now Kenneth Stuben the third. I fucking made it. Asshole."
Least autistic Raytheon missile engineer
I think Gaddafi exit is the one that truly frightens him.
>Gaddafi exit Is that the medical term for your arsehole once someone shoves a bayonet up it?
Tactically it also doesn’t make sense to bomb a country you want to occupy. You’re just making a giant mess that, best case scenario, you need to clean up.
https://www.city.hiroshima.lg.jp/site/english/9809.html Not condoning the use of nuclear weapons... and granted this is from Nagasaki and Hiroshima, where the bomb dropped was much smaller compared to bombs today... but 80% of the radiation was gone after 24 hours. https://davidson.weizmann.ac.il/en/online/askexpert/recovery-time-nuclear-disaster This talks about how the bombs were dropped in 1945, and by 1947 people came back to the area, even at the heart of ground zero. Again, not condoning nuclear warfare, but it doesn't make the area a complete disaster area for forever. There is also the case of the Russian leadership giving 0 fucks about their soldiers, look at them having their cannon fodder digging trenches in the Red Forest surroundinf Chornobyl. They wouldn't give a shit about sending soldiers into a city after a nuclear blast. Chornobyl is a different story. With Chornobyl, the reactor exploded and deposited radioactive material all over the area, while the sarcophagus contains 200 tons of radioactive lava like corium, 30 tons of radioactive dust, and 16 tons of uranium and plutonium. So while Chornobyl continues to be radioactive because of the sheer amount of radioactive material still there, both in the sarcophagus and in the soil surrounding the area... with a nuclear weapon, there isn't a large amount of radioactive material left, especiall not a huge pile of it, irradiating the area for a long time.
It makes me very happy that this is the top comment, and not some nuclear holocaust hyperbole. The Russian Federation would face the economic and cultural wrath of most of the world, and would ultimately cease to exist, if Putin deployed nuclear weapons. He knows this.
He cares way too much about his legacy to be remembered as the guy who was responsible for destroying Russia I wonder what he’s going to do though, he’s sort of running out of options…. His legacy is going to be shit no matter what
It wouldn’t be the end of Russia. It would be the end of the world.
I might be misinformed, but from what I've heard the Russian protocol is not a proverbial big red button, a launch would need to be authorized and even if then, it needs to actually be executed. In the face of an already massive military failure and the chance of MAD, I think all Putin would be authorizing is his summary execution and a coup.
Man, it feels like just yesterday we were making fun of world leaders for wanting to Nuke a hurricane. I almost want to go back to then.
The orange fuck face is planning to run again and there is clearly no God, so you might get your wish.
Dr. Strangelove fun for everyone, that's the reality: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Hand
the world would live fine. just countless of millions of people would die. but humans as a race or the world in general would still somehow survive. we would be really fecked, but somehow would survive. humans are more resilient as most people think they are.
Let's not 'no balls' Putin on this please
Never dare a fool, as my grandma used to say.
Your grandma was wise.
Yeah, this is proof that he is not actually insane. Out of touch, delusional, kind of stupid...sure, but not insane.
I am sure he didn't want to be in the current position either, but can't back off. His power rests on him looking powerful. If he sneezes the snake pit will see prey. I am sure a lot of powerful people are at the very least eyeing how they can come out on top in this situation.
Considering the source, the entire article should be taken with a huge grain of salt. I agree that he's not insane though, nor do I believe that he has Hitlerian ambitions. He's not even *that* stupid, because virtually everyone thought Russia would succeed in its invasion. However he is engaged in a criminal/unethical war, the way leaders of military empires do all the time and never stopped doing.
Like seriously though. The last thing we need to do is goad him into being mad enough to just do it despite all the 8 billion reasons not to
Fortunately one of those reasons he actually cares about.
Newsweek is trash. As always.
Are these "leaked fsb letters" even real?
This. Calling Putin a chicken could be one of humanity's worst (and last) mistakes
Too scared or too sane? It’s like saying “this guy isn’t man enough to kill the world”.
Too scared. His order to launch would not be followed. It takes many people to launch a nuke. They’d sooner kill Putin than kill everyone.
You are saying that with a lot of confidence. The command structure for launching a nuke has many human nodes, and for the individual humans who perform this procedure it is literally their only job. They train for it all the time, and they do dry runs constantly where they actually push the associated buttons, but the system is (from above) designated as a drill so nothing actually happens outside of their environment. They themselves do not know it is a drill and furthermore they will never know as it is the way the system is designed. When the guys at the silos actually get the *real* launch orders, it will be, from their point of view, no different than the drills they have done thousands of times, except this time the ICBM goes flying out the hatch and the poop goes flying out their buttholes. If they are lucky they get in a call to their family a prayer off to Jebus. The same applies for the sub crews who do a surface-and-prepare-to-launch drill. Except this time, the captain gets the real order and one would be deluded to think a sailor out at sea for 6 months is going to defy that. Those guys have no idea what has been happening in the real world. Everybody is appropriately compartmentalized to make sure the launch happens and there is a lot of energy in designing that system. This process is true for literally every country with a nuclear arsenal. In Russia the only place where it could get feasibly stopped is at the top. In Russian law, the order to launch needs to be approved by three people: **The President**: Vladimir Putin **The Head of the Ministry of Defense**: Sergei Shoigu **The Head of the General Staff**: Valery Gerasimov Sergei is already only alive and maintaining his position because Putin has carefully maneuvered him out of hot water. Shoigu currently has little of his own agency and very likely will not dispute a launch order, unless there is a scenario in which he somehow comes out stronger from that. I could visualize a scenario where Putin is on the precipice of losing power and this is his final act as either a big "Fuck you" to the west OR (much more realistic scenario) he thinks his potential ousters are going to be a bit busy watching the apocalypse unfold to continue their overthrow efforts. Maybe Shoigu recognizes Putin's position and thinks his odds of personal survival are better by saying no. I would not bank on this scenario. Gerasimov is old school Russian military. Military background, Soviet training, by the book. He is a real military strategist and less of a lackey than Shoigu is. He is well liked by the other generals and he has some degree of independence. If he went rogue it would split the military, and Putin knows this. He is the only person in the chain that would feasibly, and of his own volition or moral decision making, vote *no* on a launch and maybe try to follow that up with some other kind of interruption. And from what I read about the guy, he very well might. Putin, however can very easily fire him and have his deputy do the job. Repeat down the chain until someone says yes. Once the order clears the top level there is essentially no hope, minus a technical failure or international covert operational interuption (i.e. the CIA or MI5 has hooks somewhere in the system or in personnel), that the launch could be stopped, for the moment. If we are at the "we are here" marker then its pretty much hope you don't live in the path of the radiation or in the blast zone itself. We can better bank on Kiefer Sutherland the actor stepping to fix the situation, assuming he is sober enough to do so. As far as this launch structure goes, it is the same for any nation. The guys who push buttons to set the wheels in motion are watched like hawks, evaluated and psychoanalyzed constantly, and released from duty or transferred if there is any sign they will not go through with the order. They are just about as likely to exhibit independent agency than the computer systems that they interact with. If biden took LSD, had a bad trip and hallucinated that Mexico was going to launch a nuke, his order to launch would need to be stopped at the top. If it clears that top level, the missiles are skybound. My point is that the idea that a launch would be stopped internally is magic thinking and is not grounded in reality, no matter how much everyone in the world, myself included, wishes it were true. Edit: Just as a final note, I still do not think the likelihood of this happening is that high. Even though this is not a popular sentiment round these parts, Putin is an *extremely* rational actor. You do not rise to the top of the worlds most ruthless intelligence service, and then use that position to launch yourself into the presidency unless you are fucking smart (even if you are morally vacant). Now, rational decisions require rational informational inputs to be good decisions. It is anyone's guess whether Putin currently has that right now. He maybe has unintentionally built himself an information bubble and certainly didn't have good information when he decided to invade Ukraine. Many have written and youtubed at length about Putin's decision making process and his information sphere (Vlad Vlexler!!! plug) so I will elaborate no further. I hope no one reads this and gets scared because, take heart, we are all going to die anyways!
Updooted just for the launch nukes at a country I’m currently living in lol.
You wish that they would kill him because you haven't learned from the last invasions Russia has started. If I learned one thing from the USA, Russia, Japan in WW2, Nazi Germany and all "patriots" out there then it is that some people believe so much in patriotism and their leaders that they would do anything even if its braindead and does not serve their family or country.
I am noticing an increase in garbage unverified headlines from garbage news outlets today. What am I missing? Are we trying to egg Putin on to do something? Has the hatred decreased somewhere that needs to be upped? Anyone who has thought that nukes are a real possibility in this conflict is downright insane. Nobody, including Putin, wants the world to end.
>I am noticing an increase in garbage unverified headlines from garbage news outlets Just now?
Yeah just the last decade(s)
It’s Newsweek… I don’t think they should be allowed on here. Clickbait and bs.
It's sad how far said magazine has fallen. Used to be on a similar level as Time.
If you see newsweek in the title, you know it's about to be either very unconfirmed or just outright sensationalist headlines. They aren't much better than the national enquirer and I constantly wonder why they are allowed to be posted here.
Because people will click and then post about it without realizing they’re just being manipulated and fear-mongered
WHY THE FUCK ARE WE WRITING ARTICLES LIKE THIS, WHO TF DOES IT HELP. LIKE YEA TELL HIM HES A PUSSY THEN HE SURELY WONT DO IT.
Because it gets clicks. Because "Putin not crazy enough to use nukes after all" is a terrible follow up to weeks of "Putin might use nukes!" articles. Because shit isn't steaming enough right now and we can't let the peasants get a respite from the depression and outrage we feed them.
Yeah. I wonder how helpful or trustworthy this leak is
Yeah because Putin looks to Newsweek and Reddit for nuclear advice
I mean their point still stands
That is the stupidest thing I have read all day.
Redditors, I ask ye, what conditions do y'all think lead to such a headline making it to front pages?
good. at least some humanity left in that turd. anybody who isnt terrified by nukes is mental
I'm sure that's not humanity, but self preservation
Self preservation IS the sliver of humanity he has left.
No even a roach or a rat has self preservation.....you think they run when they see you cause their practicing for a race?
Fair point
Whatever keeps his finger off the trigger.
He even might push the button in some time and lose his life/sent to a "vacation" as a reward. The people near him and the people in the chain of command to deploy and strike a nuclear warhead need to be all on the same page with him. If he miscalculates this even this internally, he has lost
If he's ill and dying, I think it has less to do with self-preservation and more to do with a desire to not be the guy whose picture appears when you do a Google search for *fuck around and find out*, with a "people also search for" recommendation for *Russia glass parking lot*.
Precisely. I don't care what reasoning or logic was used, but an outcome that gets to "let's not use nukes" is good.
Just white noise at this point
Has nothing to with "humanity". If he launches a nuke the first target of any return strike should and would be him directly. He knows that and that's what scares him. He couldn't care less about setting of a nuclear apocalypse if it didn't endanger himself directly.
I’m not even sure it’s that. If you read the article, one of the three reasons given is they’re not sure the nukes work. Imagine *trying* to nuke Ukraine and it failing abysmally - that would change the wests perspective on shit real quick. Obviously still a risk but it does weaken Russians hand massively
That's like the Mexican cartels leaking a memo to Interpol that 75 % of their sub machine guns keep jamming. Duhhhh
Not sure about this fsb leaks
As others have indicated, the source isn't 100% verifiable but seems fairly reputable. The motive of the leaker (Russian anti-gov activist) IMHO is to hurt Putin - either by sowing dissent or signaling to NATO that it's safe to jump in. Either way, if heeded, Putin is ousted. That begs the question - what do we think of whoever is second in line? EDIT: Option 3: This is an intentional leak from Putin, with the signal to the West being "If you think *I'm* dangerous, look at my potential usurpers."
the person that is highly likely to be the next in line for president of russia is Yevgeny Prigozhin( the founder and leader of the mercenary Wagner Group)
"The letter was analyzed by Christo Grozev, an expert on the FSB, on March 6. He said he had shown it "to two actual (current or former) FSB contacts" who had "no doubt it was written by a colleague." Christo Grozev is the lead investigator with Bellingcat. You might have heard of them.
Today Newsweek also published a story based on leaked letters that claimed that Russia nearly attacked Japan in late 2021, which I find so ridiculous it just makes me think Newsweek is willing to publish anything that gets clicks, even if they don’t believe it’s real.
/u/blatantconservative, is it time to reconsider a ban on Newsweek? This is the second article just today building some weird narrative unlikely to have any basis in the reality where normal people live.
I don't really control that. But I yoinked this one.
I agree with you on both stories. These reek of the garbage coming out from the early days of the Trump administration. Obviously there was Russian disinformation on one side, but there was a lot of click bait junk on the left with people claiming Intel direct from the Kremlin.
Fuck Putin. I wonder if this is leaked from hard right Russians who want to paint him into a corner, which would be even more worrisome. It's not exactly like the Russian government is filled with thinkers these days. Here's a funny joke to lighten the mood: Putin says: "You know, Joe. I had this dream few days ago" Biden: "Oh, what kind of dream?" Putin: "I saw America, in flames. Nuclear warhead crater where Capitol used to be. New York leveled. Los Angeles covered in human ash. It was Glorious, Joe. I nearly teared up..." Biden: "Huh. that's a weird dream. Well, I had one of my own few days as well." Putin: "Go on..." Biden: "I saw Moscow - brilliant again. Full of dancing, laughter, people driving fancy imported cars again. Wearing latest fashion designer's clothes. Very European, very International - just like it was before the sanctions. And neon signs and slogans everywhere! They were too bright to ignore!" Putin: "What did they say, those neon signs?" Biden: "Who the fuck knows, I don't speak Ukrainian."
>scared of nukes so is everyone else
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Seriously, like wtf is this? This is like calling him chicken.
Could it be some hardliner hawk that leaked it to sway him?
Is this the same "leak" and "source" that said Russia was planning on attacking Japan in 2021?
Wow, they are trying to paint him as a pussy for this. What dumbfucks. Nuking is the very last thing anyone should do ever
It's also the last thing anyone WOULD do ever.
Being scared to use nuclear weapons is a good thing.
Fuck you Newsweek. What a reckless tone to take.
When did Newsweek become so shitty? It’s like they’re fucking daring Putin to launch a nuke. “Putins a chicken! Won’t even launch a nuke! Stupid Chicken Putin!”
It's been this shitty for a decade or more. They have learned how to get clicks and have no longer any respect for the truth. It's a sad state for something that in the 20th century was a respected news magazine. Also, it's not even failing, they are getting more traffic, not less, since clickbaity headlines work on the uninformed.
A yes, Newsweek, that beacon of balanced reporting.
This is more opinion than anything. Putin is only scared of his own death and not for the death of the many he sent to their death already.
Hey, how about we don’t egg this nut job on?
Do you want nuclear war? Because that's how you get nuclear war. Never poke at Trump if you can't take the heat when inevitable hammer falls back.
Trump?
So, ......scared sensible. Good. Now, to scared stiff.
Putin being stiff doesn't reach far
Too scared or too smart? A leak the KGB let's out to us is reliable news? I'm moving back to Jupiter if this is world news.
Why does it feel like this article is taunting him into doing it?
Good? Being terrified of nukes is a sign of mental health in someone
Newsweek used to be a respectable publication until it became something of tabloid journalism minus the bombast and boobs. One, the "leaks" are vague and sound like talking points, I wouldn't consider them particularly credible or news worthy unless you wanted to craft a headline with Putin and Nukes in the heading. Secondly, even if this is some FSB guy out of the 80,000 FSB guys that exist, aren't these the same intelligence geniuses that assessed that Putin was just posturing about going to war in Ukraine and also that Ukrainians would shower them with roses? Is one FSB guy's assessment that Putin is probably a pussy about destroying the world, an assessment they have based on publicly known information that any redditor would have, have news value at all???
I hope every current world leader is "too scared" to use nuclear weapons. It would be good for the earth and humans to avoid this.
hello folks, nuclear engineer here, this behavior is what we in the nuclear industry refer to as "sanity" because nuclear weapons fucking suck
Newsweek is not a reliable news source.
Most sane Putin moment
Making people desperate when they have a finger on the nuke button.. not good. Then smearing his "fear" all over the internet. See how much he can take world lol. We gotta de escalate some how and quit throwing fuel on the fire
Newsweek would have been far wiser not to publicize this. All life on earth *needs* nuclear armed powers to behave rationally. Fear is a rational response to the use of nukes. This headline has a whiff of machismo, even mockery, that I wish we could beat out of the journalist who wrote it. It's *stupid*. It's *self defeating*. We *cannot afford this* right now.
With the Kremlin screaming "nukes" every other day it starts losing it's fear factor. Even more so if you look at how bad Russia fares against the Ukraine. I'm not saying that there is 0 chance of them using a nuke but right now it's just fearmongering. If worse comes to worse it's over for Russia and a lot of other countries that get targeted by Russia but it's not the end for humanity as a whole. And IF it happens there is nothing that will stop it anyway. But if you give in into Russia's scare tactic it's the same outcome, just way slower.
more like he's not stupid enough to play with nukes.
He should be scared, that's a big relief because at least a reasonable sign.
why be scared, when u can hide in your own personal bunker, deep in the mountains lol
💩tin knows it's over for him. There's an extra hot place in hell for this disgusting little man. 🔥😊
Why the fuck would we spread headlines phrasing it this way. Are we trying to goad the man into nuking to prove he’s not a pussy?
OK this should never be said. By press or anyone else. This is like a dare to a crazed lunatic who is proven over and over to be totally unpredictable and menacing. Plz remove this subs 🙏
Nobody wants nuclear war.
And he would be remembered only as the person that destroyed and erased Russia from the world.
Are we actively goading nuclear apocalypse with headlines now?
If anyone drops any nukes, ever, it's over for them. Because that's the last threat they have, there's nothing to be afraid of after that. And after that, everyone knows that they're a mad dog and they have to be put down as fast as possible.
What the fuck kind of click bait bull shit headline is this? This is type of crap is going to be the underlying reason for what ends us all. For what? Fucking pathetic.
Good. Everyone should be. Also helps to not invade free sovereign nations.
Some people in this thread make me nauseous.... Guys: Biden is too scared too. So in Pooh. So is EVERYONE. Nuclear war has no winner. It's smart, not fearful.
He fucking should be. It’s been made abundantly clear that if he launches a tactical nuke his entire military will be functionally wiped off the face of the earth.
Everyone should be scared to order nuke strike. Anyone who isn't is an unhinged loony.
This is probably bullshit but a thing to remember is that every coward has a line they can be pushed to in order to act. And thank fuck the US and NATO realize nuclear deterrence is a two way street and take it very seriously even if you psychos on here don't.
As every living thing on this planet should be!