by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I’ve written about this before, but this time I want to be as clear eyed as possible about what would happen if Russia used tactical nukes on Ukraine. The first thing we have to figure out is, of course — why?
Why would Putin break the 70-odd year taboo against using nukes as a part of war? The key issue is — is Putin still a rational actor or not? Let’s suppose there was a method to his madness.
The thing that becomes clear whenever thinking about Russia using tactical nukes on Ukraine is it’s unlikely to be a value free situation. Putin would not just use a few nukes here and there, he would probably have to go all in, using a number of tactical nukes across Ukraine. I say this because any use of tactical nukes would be met with such international outrage that he can’t just give Ukraine a “love tap” and move on.
He would have to use tactical nukes to soften up Ukraine to the point that he could swoop in and take over the entire country without much opposition. Or, at least, that would be what he would be thinking going into the situation. Even Putin would have to come to grips with the cold, hard fact that if he nukes Ukraine that to wrap up the conquest of the Ukraine nation he would have to do a massive general mobilization of the Russian population.
We have to get out of the way the obvious — no amount of nuking Ukraine with tactical nukes would pacify them. The entire Ukrainian population would be in a very blood thirsty rage if, say, a dozen or so tactical nukes were used across their nation and, as such, Russia would have to throw everything it could muster at Ukraine to keep the country under its jackboot.
Ok. Now take a deep breath.
The thing you have to game out is Russia using tactical nukes all across Ukraine would not happen in a vacuum. Once the taboo regarding using nukes doesn’t exist anymore, then there would likely be a cascading series of events all across the globe in rapid succession.
Other nations with nukes would at least seriously think about using the nukes that they have to settle scores. As such, you could see India and Pakistan nuke each other into oblivion. You could see Israel and Iran do the same. And then, of course, there is the wild card of both China and Taiwan and the DPRK and South Korea.
Put another way, the nukes of nukes by the Russians against the Ukrainians would be Patient Zero of a nuclear-tipped contagion that would zoom across the globe at an alarming rate. WW3 would begin and millions — maybe billions — would die.
Another crucial element to all of this would be what would happen within Russia itself. After the shock wore off, I believe the Russian population would freak the fuck out and either a civil war or revolution — or both — would break out. And all of this would be happening in the context of WW3 happening.
There is the chance, of course, that the outrage over Russia nuking Ukraine would force the hand of the United States, especially if the world was already falling into WW3. As such, NATO might confront Russia directly in Ukraine and, well….I don’t what to tell you then.
I’m not an expert. I’m always wrong. Let’s hope Putin is a rational actor and we don’t have to worry about shit like this.
