Our new Russian chess game

"If we devolve into a nuclear war with Russia, it will be short and not sweet at all. We will lay waste to Russia, and Russia will lay waste to us. Radiation and nuclear winter will spread over much of the globe. There will be no winners, only losers."

I have thought this for quite a while now. Although that Putin is a war criminal, and his blood runs as cold as ice, he is not the one who is showing as much bluster as of late. It is the former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev. If there is anybody who could drag us into a war with Russia, it is this guy. And as much of a peacenik that Trump is, Trump is ready to call Medvedev's bluff at any angle. Up to and including parking a couple more nuclear subs close to Russia. 

When I was younger, the only person I really feared was somebody who had nothing to lose. As an older adult, the only person or nation who I fear is one who thinks nuclear war is winnable. To me, both Putin and Medvedev come under that category. Both of these guys have launched numerous nuclear threats towards the west in the past few years. Russia knows we have just about as many nukes as they have, but either they don't care, or their bluster is more than convincing.

I think this week, Medvedev has caused Trump to reach his tipping point. He is not going to take any more trash talk from this country which is causing so much trouble in Europe right now. In a couple weeks, Trump is going to impose the strictest of all consequences (sanctions) on Russia as well as countries which buy Russian oil. Does Trump want to do that? No - but this is the final measure which could get Russia to agree to a cease fire in Ukraine.

But here is what I cannot fully understand. Russia has made it known through inkles as well as direct comments, that Ukraine might only be the first of many battles Russia will fight with the west. What does that mean? It means that even a cease fire in Ukraine is of little or no interest to Russia right now. If Russia needs to turn the entire country into dust, and kill every man, woman and child - so be it. And if it means using a tactical nuke or two, again, so be it.

It is hard to broker peace with an imperialistic country like Russia. By the same token, it is hard to have a serious trading partner like China, who at any minute can invade and conquer a close friend like Taiwan. And it is hard to take a group of murderous thugs (like Hamas) seriously who did what they did to Israel on October 7th. And Iran? Don't get me started. All these are the countries which are giving Trump so many headaches.

If we devolve into a nuclear war with Russia, it will be short and not sweet at all. We will lay waste to Russia, and Russia will lay waste to us. Radiation and nuclear winter will spread over much of the globe. There will be no winners, only losers. The reason MAD was so successful for so many years, was sane men realized this fact. Today, we have insane men who are Russian megalomaniacs, and they don't seem to care. Ergo, that is our new Russian chess game.