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Putin Pushing Nukes

By Geoffrey Norman


Bloomberg reports that



President Vladimir Putin ordered defense chiefs to strengthen Russia’s strategic nuclear forces amid rising tensions with the U.S. over the global balance of power.



One tends to forget about nukes as part of various states’s arsenals. France has nukes and we don’t give them a thought. Nor those belonging to Great Britain. With so many other things to worry about in the age of asymmetrical warfare, we tend to think that nukes have been taken off the board. Then, yesterday, we learn that North Korea claims it has developed a thermonuclear device. Why should a starving nation settle for mere A-bombs when it can have H-bombs? And, today, the news is that



Russia’s military will have five new nuclear regiments equipped with modern missile complexes next year, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told the same meeting. More than 95 percent of the country’s nuclear forces are at a permanent state of readiness, he said.



Readiness, one thinks, for what?


He cannot possibly think that the U.S. plans aggressive action against Russia. We barely have such intentions regarding ISIS. So, could he have designs of his own and be using the nukes to discourage what he must surely consider weak U.S. and western leadership from resisting or interfering?


It is not especially reassuring to learn that



Putin said Russia’s military must continue its program of training drills and devote special attention to the “transport of troops over long distances” as well as “strategic nuclear deterrence” and the ability to airlift forces including “anti-aircraft, missile and electronic elements.”




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