For one, if he did, he'd have China to deal with. Ukraine and China signed a nuclear umbrella pact under Yanukovych.
Getting worse and worse, some places looking like a hellscape
Why would there be any Irish targets?
And, its not going to happen
I think we definitely will, and If I were the US, I'd resurrect Star Wars and develop a space based non nuclear first strike capability, and extra atmosphere warhead intercept technologies. Gloves off time.
Currently 7 Russian amphibious assault and boarding vessels sitting off the port of Odessa , which Lukashenkos map showed was going to be invaded from the sea .
The EU and NATO need to stand up now and say enough or were going to target anything currently in or around Ukraines sovereign state
What a moron, grow up.
Option 2 of picturing his misses in the nip probably isn't too appealing either.
Putin doesn’t seem like a reasonable person so if he won’t change his plans, what exactly can the west do while avoiding direct conflict and is there a point where Ukraine has taken enough of a battering that the west will change its tactics?
They cant even get the lads that willingly joined the army to fight. Not sure how this will work for them.
Shannon, which is effectively a US base will receive a nuke. Shannon/Limerick would be the lucky ones.
But, I think the West has acted correctly, aided/encouraged by a very brave defence by Ukraine, which unfortunately can't be helped more than what is currently being done, imo.
Fun fact, a Swiss military intelligence officer posing as a wealthy banker bought an old landed gentry house in West Cork during the cold war (70s I think). Its intention was to be the seat of the Swiss government exile in the event of nuclear war. West Cork was calculated to be one of the safer places in Europe due to prevailing winds. Local tradesmen got a bit suss when they were installing a nuclear bunker and comms equipment.
RTE had a bit on it last year I think. Quare story, but true! It's a hotel now I think.
"Moreover, in March 1981, when the Sunday Tribune reported details of a joint US, NATO plan for Western Europe, it clearly showed that Cork, Bantry, Dublin, Shannon and Belfast would be Soviet targets - Shannon and Dublin airports being vital if NATO air bases on the Continent had been destroyed. The plan assumed that the Soviets believed that, in a war, NATO would take over the country with or without the government's consent.
In December 1983, two members of Northern Ireland CND, Peter Emerson and Paddy McBride, entered the nuclear bunker at Mount Eden in south Belfast. They photographed a map of Ireland showing a number of sites regarded then by the British Ministry of Defence as possible targets in a European nuclear exchange. In Northern Ireland these were Bishopscourt; the radar base at Torr Head, Co Antrim; and the base at Ballykelly, Co Derry. In the Republic there were six sites: Wicklow, Waterford, Cork, Cobb, and two points in Donegal including a seastrike at Inistrahull."
China are irrelevant. They have less leverage over Russia than the west, which has proven to be less than none. The amount of inflation of China's importance is only exceeded by the underestimation of Putin's sociopathy.
It is more serious than 1939 because in 1939 there were no nuclear weapons. People who think Putin is bluffing about being willing to burn the world are engaging in wishful thinking. Magda Goebels murdered her six children in the bunker. The men close to Hitler knew the war was lost in 1942 but preferred to see everything destroyed.
I saw it, was around the time said "businessman" died. Who knows, we could have half the UN set up in West Cork. But, AFAIK, the Swiss government themselves never took it seriously - was a bit of a solo run, IIRC.
Why would they waste a nuke? Two standard cruise missiles would take that target out.
We are lying down and spreading our legs. Standing up isn't on the cards.
You're really hurting my feelings. You are so cold and ruthless.
Its a simply a numbers game.
Russia's military is no match for the combined west if the situation escalates, and Putin knows that.
Also I've heard it discussed on the BBC there is a long chain of command from Putin to the guys that launch the nukes, they could refuse to act in anticipation of retaliation threat from the west.
I can’t see any other outcome than at least one nation being nuked in 2022
Yes, the same fellow ran a shadow army within Swiss intelligence set up to lead an anti-Soviet resistance in the event of invasion. Went under the radar until the early 90s.
Anyone interested in Cold War stories should listen to the Cold War Conversations podcast. The above tale isn't covered, but it has a whole host of interviews with all sorts of people and their activities during the Cold War. Some crazy crazy stories out there.
Both the USSR and the West were riddled with (sometimes not unfounded) paranoia. An extraordinary period of history - on the surface a period of growth and cultural flowering for Europe, but under the surface, so many people were working tooth and nail to prevent disaster striking.
I think that the current Western values we currently hold are reliant upon a surplus of food, energy and water existing. On the hierarchy of needs, you have to have the basic needs covered before you can move onto the loftier self-actualisation goals. Once austerity bites, however, there's more of a drive to 'get with the program' and pull together (or be pushed together) in order to secure the basic resources we need for survival. That means less individualism and less liberty for ordinary people.
My fear is that, based on the current trajectory of the world economy and population, we're setting ourselves up for a situation where authoritarian regimes like Russia and China have a natural advantage. As austerity bites from rising energy costs, and there are more humans competing for resources, China and Russia are better poised to both endure the suffering, and are more whipped into shape by their governments to hold together. Meanwhile, the West would be fighting with itself and in denial about the drop in standards of living, and in that world, China and Russia can move.
So the choice for the West is to either adopt some of the aspects of authoritarian societies to perhaps set ourselves up to adapt to coming austerity, or else find methods of energy production that are cheap and clean so that we can continue with the surplus we currently enjoy.
Tungsten rods.
The airport buildings or one of the longest runways in the world?
People should stop posting about nuclear attacks on Ireland and theorizing where and who would be worse affected.
Its scaremongering
Russia dont need nuclear bombs in Ukraine - they are killing thousands with all the missile strikes and shelling each night and once the troops and tanks get into Kiev and other cities tens of thousands of Ukrainians will be killed each week if not day .
Russia will use nuclear bombs if they go into Poland or Germany or Western Europe.
Right but you mentioned a nuclear attack, that's the condition of the Chinese-Ukrainian pact, if Russia were to launch a nuclear attack on Ukraine, China would have to retaliate against Russia.
In terms of leverage, Russia won't be able to repair it's Boeing and Airbus planes soon, the world's major container shipping companies are refusing to do business with it, in fact most major global companies will stop doing business altogether with the entire country, it's largest bank stock has gone down 95%, the central bank has had hundreds of billions in assets abroad frozen, their currency has plunged 20% to 30%, Russian bonds and assets are toxic, I don't even want to think about their pension funds, it looks like the country is going to default on it's next bond payment, and this is just 7 days in.
They are going to become very, very reliant on BRICS countries like China, the second largest economy in the world, just to survive. If the Chinese allow them. And don't scalp the hell out of them in every deal.
Were you one of those kids that when they closed their eyes they thought those chasing couldn't see them?
Don’t think it’s their military that’s the problem, it’s the threat of nukes. And while you may be correct about the chain of command, you can’t wage war in the hope that a Good Samaritan in the link will prevent the apocalypse. Aren’t there nukes in different parts of the army ? You might get lucky with naval officers and unlucky with certain army ones.
Im guessing that the allies are speaking with those most familiar with Putin to gauge what probability of him using nukes in different scenarios. The mere fact that he is actually using them as a threat implies he’s ok having them as a bartering chip. I think that’s insane, not least because that nuclear war could spell the end of humanity, but it makes sense to him.
These theories about Irish targets all come from old Soviets war plans from 40/50 yrs ago - also there are a lot less nukes now that in the 70/80s with lesser yields - some believe the theories of nuclear winter are a myth and life would return to relative normality in a much lesser time that the doomsday modelling from cold war times
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