West: More sanctions, isolation if Putin carries out threats
WASHINGTON (AP) — How do American leaders and their allies intend to respond if President Vladimir Putin seeks to escalate his way out of a bad situation on Ukraine’s battlefields, and makes good on renewed threats of annexing territory or even using nuclear weapons?
At least to start with, by trying to double down on the same tactics that have helped put Russia in a corner in Ukraine, U.S. and European leaders have made clear: more financial penalties and international isolation for Russia, more arms and other backing for Ukraine.
That won’t necessarily be easy. It’s been tough enough staying the current course of persuading all of dozens of allies to stick with sanctions and isolation for Putin, and persuading more ambivalent countries to join in. Global financial and energy disruptions from Russia’s war in Ukraine already promise to make the coming winter a tough one for countries that have depended on Russia for their energy needs.
And there’s no sign of U.S. or NATO officials matching Putin’s renewed nuclear threats with the same nuclear bluster, which in itself might raise the risks of escalating the conflict to an unimaginable level. Even if Putin should act on his nuclear threat, President Joe Biden and others point, without details, to an ascending scale of carefully calibrated responses, based on how far Russia goes.
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-putin-nato-government-and-politics-nuclear-weapons-6a5a3a07fad97bf7854b7d766f8181a7
= new reply since forum marked as read
... nuclear effects could extend to NATO countries - which should be considered an attack on NATO countries. Putin probably has chemical/nuclear plans on his list of possibilities. Hopefully, we or his potential replacements have given him ways out... although he has not shown any sign he wants to give up. I don't think it ends well...
