Part 2 of 3 Parts (Please read Part 1)
NATO was originally created to counter a perceived Soviet threat to Western Europe after World War II. Putin points to the fact that NATO has moved up the border of Russia with NATO members in Eastern Europe including Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia. He is attempting to resurrect the old Soviet Union "sphere of influence" in Eastern Europe by what the Russian now call "hybrid warfare." This employs the excuse of opposing the abuse of Russian speaking native minorities in Eastern European countries to cover infiltration, destabilization, guerilla warfare, cyberwarfare and propaganda campaigns in those countries. This brand of warfare is currently being practiced in Ukraine. There are hints that Putin intends to employ hybrid warfare in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.
Understanding that such activities might provoke military action on the part of NATO, Putin has changed Russian nuclear strategy to allow for the use of tactical nuclear weapons in a conventional war. He has said that if Russia enters a conventional war with NATO forces in Eastern Europe and Russia appears to be losing then he will consider using tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield. Interviews with top Russian governmental officials and Russian Generals suggest that Putin believes that he can intimidate the NATO countries with the detonation of a single nuclear bomb to the point where NATO would stop fighting and basically allow Putin to keep whatever territory he had invaded during the fighting. He may be right but if he is wrong, an exchange of tactical nuclear weapons on an Eastern European battlefield could escalate to all-out nuclear war
Fighting in Latvia, Estonia or Ukraine could easily spill over the Russian border. With Moscow only a few hundred miles from the Western Russian border, foreign troops crossing the Russian border could be interpreted as an intent to move on Moscow. This would increase the probability of escalation into an exchange of ICBMs between Russia, Western Europe and the U.S.
In the past few years Russia has been flying nuclear bombers with their transponders turned off in the airspace of other nations. Last week, two Russian Tupolev nuclear bombers flew into U.K. airspace and the U.K. scrambled fighters to confront them. The Russian bombers retreated but not before the U.K. captured four seconds of an electronic signal that indicated the pilot of one of the Russian bombers had started the countdown to arm a nuclear bomb.
I have written about the new U.S. tactical nuclear bombs called the B61s. They have a variable yield, they more accurate that older versions and they can be carried by stealth fighters. This week, the U.S. moved twenty of these new bombs to Germany. The mere existence of these new bombs in Germany increases the possibility that military planners would consider using them on the battlefield.
There is a clear game of nuclear provocation and escalation going on right now between Russia and the U.S. and its NATO allies and it is getting almost no coverage in the international media. The U.S. and Russia both have thousands of megaton nuclear warheads and delivery systems that are ready to trigger on a few moments notice. The existing warning, control, launch systems and notification systems are deteriorating. The world is once again sliding toward the brink of nuclear oblivion. If we don't get rid of nuclear weapons, they will be the end of us.
(Please read Part 3)
U.S. B61-12 Tactical Nuclear Bomb:
