Will Vladimir Putin touch the nuclear button?

It says: Steve Rosenberg, CNN, Moscow

♪ Periscope

Shit.

Let me start with a statement. Many times I've thought: “Putin will never do this.” Then he goes and does exactly the same thing.

He will never annex the Crime, will he? He annexed her.

He would never start a war in Donba. ” He started it.

It would never begin the total invasion of Ukraine.” He started it.

I have concluded that the phrase “would never do” is not worth Vladimir Putin.

And that raises a very, very nice question:

He would never press the first nuclear weapons button. Right?

That's not a theoretical question. Russia's leader has just put his country's nuclear forces on high alert, opposing aggressive NATO leaders' appeals to Ukraine.

Listen carefully to what President Putin has said. Last Thursday, when he announced on television for special military operation (really the complete invasion of Ukraine), he issued a cold warning:

“Anyone who intends to intervene from outside will face the worst consequences in history”

Putin's “words sounded like a direct threat to nuclear war,” believes Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief of the newspaper önovaya newspaper.

“In his address on TV, Putin was appearing not only as the leader of the Kremlin, but also as the leader of the world; the same way that the owner of a quick car rolled the keys into his finger showed up, Putin was bringing the nuclear button. He has said many times: If there were no Russia, why would the planet need to be? Nobody paid attention to this. But this statement is a threat that Russia is not treated as it wishes, then everything will be destroyed”

In a 2018 documentary, President Putin stated that “ ...if anyone decides to destroy Russia, we have the legal right to respond. Yes, it would be a disaster for mankind and the world. But I'm a citizen of Russia and head of this state. Why would we need a world without Russia in it?

Soon straight in 2022. Putin has launched a war for the complete invasion of Ukraine, but the Ukrainian armed forces are making strong resistance; The West-for the surprise of the Kremlin- have joined to impose sanctions on Moscow aimed at undermining the economy and finance. Perhaps the entire existence of Putin's system has been puzzled.

“Putin is a narrow situation,” believes Moscow-based defence analyst Pavel Fegenhower.

It will not remain many options as soon as the West freezes the assets of Russia's Central Bank and Russia's financial system explodes. That would make the system dysfunctional.

A option for him is to stop gas again for Europe, hoping it would bring Europeans down to the ground. The next option is to detonate a nuclear weapon somewhere over the North Sea between Britain and Denmark and wait to see what happens. ”

If Vladimir Putin were to choose the nuclear option, would anyone from his circle try to discourage him? Or stop it?

Russia's “Elites are never with the people”, says Nobel laureate Dmitry Muratov. “They always take sides with a ruler. ”

And in Vladimir Putin's Russia, he is the full-powerful ruler. Russia is a country with little power sharing. The Kremlin is the one who makes the decisions.

“No one is ready to go against Putin” says Fegenhower. “We are in a dangerous situation”.

The war in Ukraine is Putin's war. If the Kremlin leader fulfills his military goals, Ukraine's future as a sovereign nation will be in doubt. If he sees that he's failing and facing great losses, the fear is that he can speed up the Kremlin to take more desperate measures.

Especially if the phrase "never" was used again. /CNN/Periscopi