"Russia seeks more than merely to deter Washington and NATO at the conventional and nuclear levels. It seeks to take territory from pro-Western states and disrupt the West, using non-nuclear instruments directly and nuclear instruments to intimidate and control Western responses. Russia's nuclear buildup and its proliferating nuclear threats are a way to distract from the concurrent buildup of a warfighting conventional capability. Moscow's probes raise the cost of retaliation. Russia's probes also suggest that nuclear weapons could be used if necessary in a warfighting mode. Although many U.S. analysts would describe Russia's current nuclear posture as one of mutual deterrence, that term is fundamentally wrong. It's a strategy of coercion and intimidation aimed at the West, and it's meant to give Russia time to build up and improve its conventional and nuclear capabilities, and block both European integration and the sovereign choice of post-Soviet states. Whatever this strategy may be called, surely it is not mutual deterrence. If anything, it is a strategy for a pre-war buildup. NATO's virtual self-disarmament, its lack of any coherent policy regarding its own tactical nuclear weapons and its supine response to the violations of arms-control treaties have created a vacuum that is filled by Russia. Having found no Western response to earlier probes, Russia felt emboldened to attack Ukraine and to ratchet up its threats. Russian President Vladimir Putin has achieved his intended result: Ukraine has not received real military assistance, nor has NATO seriously grappled with the fact that Russia is an unbridled aggressor." - Putin’s Thinly Veiled Threat of Nuclear War Is Working - BY STEPHEN BLANK - Newsweek | Obama Can't Pivot Away From NATO Due to Russian Threat | Fearful of Putin, Finland Explores NATO Membership
Ukraine News Review | Nato - Russia News | Putin & Putinism "Russia seeks more than merely to deter Washington and NATO at the conventional and nuclear levels. It seeks to take territory from pro-Western states and disrupt the West, using non-nuclear instruments directly and nuclear instruments to intimidate and control Western responses. Russia's nuclear buildup and its proliferating nuclear threats are a way to distract from the concurrent buildup of a warfighting conventional capability. Moscow's probes raise the cost of retaliation. Russia's probes also suggest that nuclear weapons could be used if necessary in a warfighting mode. Although many U.S. analysts would describe Russia's current nuclear posture as one of mutual deterrence, that term is fundamentally wrong. It's a strategy of coercion and intimidation aimed at the West, and it's meant to give Russia time to build up and improve its conventional and nuclear capabilities, and bl...