WWIII Watch: Vladimir Putin Announces Russia Will Station Tactical Nukes in Belarus

[mystery-ak]

WWIII Watch: Vladimir Putin Announces Russia Will Station Tactical Nukes in Belarus

Breitbart London 25 Mar 2023

(AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday he would deploy tactical nuclear weapons in neighbour and ally Belarus.

Putin has repeatedly issued thinly veiled threats he could use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, reviving Cold War-era fears.

He also said he would deploy depleted uranium ammunition if Kyiv received such munitions from the West following a British suggestion that it could supply Ukraine.

“There is nothing unusual here either: the United States has been doing this for decades. They have long placed their tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of their allies,” Putin said.

Putin said he spoke to Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and said “we agreed that we to do the same.”

On the question of how Moscow would respond if the West supplied Ukraine with depleted uranium shells, following a suggestion by Britain it could supply Kyiv with the munitions, Putin said Russia had vast quantities of the weaponry.

“Russia of course has what it needs to answer. Without exaggeration, we have hundreds of thousands of such shells. We have not used them yet,” Putin added in an interview on Russian television.

more
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/03/25/wwiii-watch-vladimir-putin-announces-russia-will-station-tactical-nukes-in-belarus/

[catfish1957]

And this will have Chicom backing and support with upcoming Russian-Sin0-OPEC alliance.

[bigheadfred]

FWIW, DU rounds were used by the US in Bosnia, Iraq Desert Storm, and again in the Iraq war (2003).

[Wingnut]

Why not put them in Cuba. 

[bigheadfred]

Why not put them in Cuba.

Submarines

[kevindavis007]

Personally, I don't think that Putin will nuke Ukraine.  I'm not sure the nukes work at all.

[sneakypete]

Personally, I don't think that Putin will nuke Ukraine.  I'm not sure the nukes work at all.

@kevindavis007

I see it as more of a not-so-subtle threat to the other European nations that are supporting Ukraine.

[Kamaji]

Personally, I don't think that Putin will nuke Ukraine.  I'm not sure the nukes work at all.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

Personally, I don't think that Putin will nuke Ukraine.  I'm not sure the nukes work at all.

That's obviously Ukraine's call to make, but I agree 100%.  If he were to use even a single so-called "tactical" nuke, the entire world with the possible exception of North Korea would be outraged, and they'd be economically and politically isolated. And that would be the one thing most likely to result in someone removing him from power.  Not happening.

Putin has a huge problem.  The Russians have suffered staggering losses in equipment that their industrial base cannot replace, and the confirmation of that is the almost total lack of truly new equipment they were producing even before this war.  The only way to reverse that is to shift to a true war economy, but that will only serve to foster discontent in his own country and further damage their economic base.  Ukraine has suffered incredible losses too, but they're in an existential war.  They lose, and they're gone.  The Russians are in a war of choice, and people generally aren't willing to sacrifice the same way.

If anyone is interested, this is an admittedly long - and very sarcastic -- video by a British war blogger who knows his stuff, and it directly concerns the Russians vaunted T-14 Armata tank.  2100 were scheduled to be in service by 2021, but literally zero are.  The video really goes to a much larger problem with the Russian war industry than just the T-14, and explains why they are in a world of hurt when it comes to trying to produce modern equipment.  It's got a few goofy commercials inserted, but is very informative and entertaining overall.  As an aside, the cracks he makes about "putting more stuff on an old T-72 and giving it a higher number" is accurate.  The different Russian tank model numbers aren't generally new models at all, but only various upgrades attached to old tanks.  They haven't made a truly new tank since, well...a very long time.  Hence, the "mighty" T-14 Armata.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-opSlCGLGQ4

@sneakypete @Weird Tolkienish Figure -- pinging you guys because of our earlier discussion on tanks. 

[sneakypete]

That's obviously Ukraine's call to make, but I agree 100%.  If he were to use even a single so-called "tactical" nuke, the entire world with the possible exception of North Korea would be outraged, and they'd be economically and politically isolated. And that would be the one thing most likely to result in someone removing him from power.  Not happening.

Putin has a huge problem.  The Russians have suffered staggering losses in equipment that their industrial base cannot replace, and the confirmation of that is the almost total lack of truly new equipment they were producing even before this war.  The only way to reverse that is to shift to a true war economy, but that will only serve to foster discontent in his own country and further damage their economic base.  Ukraine has suffered incredible losses too, but they're in an existential war.  They lose, and they're gone.  The Russians are in a war of choice, and people generally aren't willing to sacrifice the same way.

If anyone is interested, this is an admittedly long - and very sarcastic -- video by a British war blogger who knows his stuff, and it directly concerns the Russians vaunted T-14 Armata tank.  2100 were scheduled to be in service by 2021, but literally zero are.  The video really goes to a much larger problem with the Russian war industry than just the T-14, and explains why they are in a world of hurt when it comes to trying to produce modern equipment.  It's got a few goofy commercials inserted, but is very informative and entertaining overall.  As an aside, the cracks he makes about "putting more stuff on an old T-72 and giving it a higher number" is accurate.  The different Russian tank model numbers aren't generally new models at all, but only various upgrades attached to old tanks.  They haven't made a truly new tank since, well...a very long time.  Hence, the "mighty" T-14 Armata.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-opSlCGLGQ4

@sneakypete @Weird Tolkienish Figure -- pinging you guys because of our earlier discussion on tanks.

@Maj. Bill Martin

Thanks for the ping,but I don't know diddly-squat about tanks,other than they are loud,dangrous,and tear up the landscape.

And that I never ONCE had any desire to be locked away in a big steel coffin.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

@Maj. Bill Martin

Thanks for the ping,but I don't know diddly-squat about tanks,other than they are loud,dangrous,and tear up the landscape.

And that I never ONCE had any desire to be locked away in a big steel coffin.

Got it -- the larger point is makes clear is how bad off the Russian armaments industry is in general.  To give you an idea....

The T-14 was designed around a very specific engine.  But at the time they went with the T-14, that engine didn't actually exist in a workable, reliable form.  There's a rather famous video of the Russians showing of 8 prototypes at a parade, and two of them broke down right in front of the reviewing stand.  They just lack the engineering chops to get that engine to work because it wasn't well designed.  Now, you might say "why don't they just take one of the more reliable engines from their other lines and stick that in the T-14?  The problem with that is, as I mentioned earlier, the T-14 was designed around a very specific engine size, and none of the other engines will fit.  It's like a Keystone Cops routine.

[sneakypete]

Got it -- the larger point is makes clear is how bad off the Russian armaments industry is in general.  To give you an idea....

The T-14 was designed around a very specific engine.  But at the time they went with the T-14, that engine didn't actually exist in a workable, reliable form.  There's a rather famous video of the Russians showing of 8 prototypes at a parade, and two of them broke down right in front of the reviewing stand.  They just lack the engineering chops to get that engine to work because it wasn't well designed.  Now, you might say "why don't they just take one of the more reliable engines from their other lines and stick that in the T-14?  The problem with that is, as I mentioned earlier, the T-14 was designed around a very specific engine size, and none of the other engines will fit.  It's like a Keystone Cops routine.

@Maj. Bill Martin

Doesn't surprise me a bit. It is the natural result of "engineering by committee" that is at the core of Sovietism/Communism. Nobody is in charge,so nobody is at fault when it doesn't work.

AND....,even IF you understand that it doesn't work and WHY it doesn't work,you will remain silent so you don't embarrass your superiors if you are a good little Soviet.

Stuff like this is WHY Communism has NEVER really worked anywhere it has been tried,and why it will never work.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

@Maj. Bill Martin
AND....,even IF you understand that it doesn't work and WHY it doesn't work,you will remain silent so you don't embarrass your superiors if you are a good little Soviet.

Stuff like this is WHY Communism has NEVER really worked anywhere it has been tried,and why it will never work.

That's a great point.  Pointing out that the Emperor has no clothes gets you a trip to the Gulag if you're lucky.  So they keep telling their superiors what they want to hear about a project hoping they can get transferred somewhere else and then blame it on whomever is left behind when the failure becomes apparent.

Although one of the things that video also got into is the massive brain-drain that has hit Russia, with smart young engineers moving to the West where they can live so much better. So even if they do fire the people responsible, they don't really have anyone to replace them.

[bigheadfred]

@sneakypete  @Maj. Bill Martin

I watched about 20 minutes of the video. Apparently, the Russkies are still using the same engine developed in 1937.

Not that that matters if they start flinging DU rounds at each other. I don't know that there is any armor there in use that would last very long against them.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

@sneakypete  @Maj. Bill Martin

I watched about 20 minutes of the video. Apparently, the Russkies are still using the same engine developed in 1937.

Not that that matters if they start flinging DU rounds at each other. I don't know that there is any armor there in use that would last very long against them.

Yeah, their core engine is one they've just updated.  Not a brand new design ever for their tanks.  They actually got some captured Tiger tanks in WW2 and used that as the template for some of their tanks as well.  Problem is that the Tigers were known for having crappy, unreliable engines.

I liked the part about how on May Day Parades, they'd take equipment that had already gone passed the reviewing stand once, repaint the number, and send it by for a second pass as if it was a different piece.  I remember seeing that documented decades ago but forgot about it.  Someone caught the dripping paint with a photo.