The world already knew that Putin is willing to butcher enemy civilians, indiscriminately bombing Chechen, Georgian, Syrian and Ukrainian cities. But to callously sacrifice freshly mobilised Russian soldiers, while allowing more experienced troops to withdraw confirms that even Russian lives mean little to him. That a nuclear weapon’s effectiveness is not in its use, but rather in the threat of it being used. Regardless of their rhetoric the Russian’s have neither used a tactical nuclear weapon nor changed their force’s posture. Macron’s statements reduce the uncertainty that NATO’s response may be nuclear, thereby diminishing the inherent risk of Russia using its tactical nuclear weapons.

Source: New Zealand Herald October 30, 2022 23:22 UTC