Detached from reality? That's ABSOLUTELY the principle of the
M.A.D. !!!
You start a war, you sign your own death warrant!
So you don't start a war because it's suicidal
Had Ukraine kept its 1700(?), 3000(?) nukes in the 90's, Butcher-Putler would NEVER had dared to invade !!!
Without US stupidity in the 80's, PRC wouldn't be constantly rattling sabre about Taiwan...
The fact we made Israel a nuclear power in the 60's was the MAJOR point that made Anwar el-Sadat opt for a genuine peace treaty, and later being followed by king Hussein... This is NOT detached from reality of nuclear war!
Mark my words, it wouldn't take more than Zelen announcing that they've found a hidden stockpile of a few warheads, then doing a little demo, e.g. blowing the Crimea bridge with a 50 kilotons one, which would end with no casualties except if there are ppl using the bridge when blown, would be enough to absolutely decide to pull out rather than escalating : someone with just a few warheads and being back to the wall is way more dangerous than having a large arsenal, and in such a case, there has already been a warning shot sending a message like... Moscow or St.Petersburg may follow...
The other side doesn't know how few you may have and what yield, but you've just shown you're determined to use it!
This is the Dirty Harry's "Go ahead! Make my day!" thing...
Tell me, if you were Putin, even if you can blow a continent, would you think the invasion of Ukraine worths seeing Moscow and St. Pete razed and with 30,000 km² around becoming too radioactive to live in for many centuries, because this is how you proceed when you have few nukes : surface bursts will cover gigantic areas with fallouts, while an airburst will just be a gigantic boom, for sure, with huge damages but the area is re-useable...
THIS IS ABSOLUTELY HOW A NUCLEAR DETERRENT WORKS FOR MANY DECADES AND THAT IS WHY NATO AND THE WARSAW PACT NEVER ENTERED A DIRECT FIGHT...
And this is also why I absolutely promote an
EU NUCLEAR SHARING but not based on 100 outdated
B61 with 20 per each of the 5 countries...
I want 500 ASMPA-R : 300 kiloton, Mach3, stealth, range has been extended again, the ASMP ranged 300km+, ASMPA ranged 500km+ so the most likely now is about 750km, but it may be as high as 1000km...
Moreover, MBDA proposed to convert the retired old ASMP to what they were intended first : replacing the Exocet!!! We have something similar to the BrahMos/Oniks for 32 years, and our idiots at the govt didn't even considered we could make huge money selling a conventional version... Moreover, huge advantage on the BrahMos/Oniks : 900kg instead of 2500kg... even LCAs have 900kg+ weapons-stations...
One of the two Russian ‘Bear’ bombers which flew into Irish-controlled airspace last week was reportedly carrying a nuclear weapon.
www.irishexaminer.com
British support for Ukraine could trigger nuclear war, Russia warns.
www.forbes.com
Putin's nuclear blackmail is all about USA or France won't trade NYC or Paris for Helsinki" and
like that, in fact, he may be right about the US, about France, it's way more risky : the French are way more likely to consider that if you go after any EU country, their asses are on the line any way...
500 ASMPA-R won't cost big: only €9bn which is peanuts at EU level, in fact, considering there are gaps in EU jet fighters inventories since our poorest => weakest members (militarily speaking) are at the EU's borders, even purchasing 60 squadrons of Rafales and 60 of Gripen (1080 of each) wouldn't be an issue...
From there, even those without any jet fighter now can start operating a significant air force and with nuclear missiles available,
Moreover, ground launching would just require a booster... We retired the Hades SRBM in 1997, it was similar to the Iskander, but there were two per TEL... Ever seen the kind of TEL we used?
There's a Swede company proposing to house missile systems into ISO containers now...
No need for NATO and Turkey can veto what it wants, they're not in the EU and with their leaders behaviours,it's nowhere near from happening.
Now, look at this...If you're Putler, still want to threaten Finland or the Baltic states knowing THIS? :
And I also advocate that the EU shall purchase 10 Triomphant class SSBNs with 160 M51.3 stealth SLBMs and 1600 MIRVs, to add to the 4 French owned ones...
Oh, as we are...
There are others proffering threats against EU members and claiming ownership on our lands,
So, Yup, nukes, as well as no more having idiots believing that soft power is enough or that NATO is enough, or that only NATO can protect Europe, are part of the solution.
We also must adopt a mandatory 2% GDP military spending in the EU, this may not forcedly mean an EU army, but it's clear that a rapid reaction force should be considered, as well as a gear pool...
And it'd be a good idea to inaugurate such RFF in Cyprus added with a naval blockade of the
TRNC puppet state...
I may surely look like hawkish, I'm not. Those who are hawkish are those proferring nuclear threats on Finland, Sweden, Germany, Ireland, as well as invasion threats on Baltic States, as well as on Greece and Bulgaria as well as what remains of Cyprus, and kicking out their illegal occupation from the island... Some in countries like Ukraine, India, Israel, the Philippines, Vietnam, etc may tolerate the illegal occupation of parts of their countries for many decades, I consider that at EU level, we shall stop compromising and to no more tolerate even one square centimetre to remain illegally occupied.