Realistic perhaps isn't the question? Will Putin resort to nukes? I think that's a very real possibility -- with Iran backing him. God help us. Congress needs to get their act together; politics aside and demand Joe and Chuckles step down. Insert someone who has a spine and knows Putin!! IMO Otherwise, we can count on a full blown nuclear war.
How realistic is Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threat?How realistic is Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threat?
Frustrated by a lack of military progress in Ukraine, the Russian president has put his country’s nuclear arms on high alert.
The question is: How many nuclear weapons does Russia have and could these be a realistic option for Russian President Vladimir Putin?
Arguably frustrated by the lack of progress in his war on Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has put Russia’s deterrent weapons – including its nuclear arms – on alert.
Since this provocation, the question has become all the more critical as to how many nuclear weapons Russia possesses and whether these could be indeed a realistic option for Putin.
“Putin is using his nuclear arsenal in this way because it is a tool he has, one that is mysterious and utterly terrifying,” Dakota S Rudesill, associate professor at Mershon Center for International Security Studies at Ohio State University, told Al Jazeera.
Moreover, the resistance the Russians have met in Ukraine so far has played a pivotal role in the decision, he said.
“Putin is reaching for it at this point because the war is probably not going as well as he anticipated. He wants to change the game and regain the initiative, wants his adversaries to be off-balance and frightened, wondering how he might escalate next and against whom,” Rudesill added.
INTERACTIVE- Nuclear warheads per country..........
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/3/how-realistic-is-vladimir-putins-nuclear-threat