>>And? They can't actually respond militarily because MAD.

Why? Of course they would. And yes we would all die. It's the other way around - a NATO country wouldn't be attacked by Russia because yes, NATO would attack back.

You'd think so, wouldn't you?

In fact Republicans are already saying that even sanctions aren't acceptable. Going to war... not a chance!

https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1497033251424190466

>because yes, NATO would attack back

That's what it says on paper, yes. That's the theory.

Well, if that's not the threshold uncrossable line, then there simply isn't one and all of this is completely worthless.

Exactly, then Putin himself could go to Washington kill Biden and everyone is doing nothing because of MAD. That's absurd.

That's why we still have conventional weapons. Also if Putin loses it completely (decides to attack a NATO country rather than attempts to personally murder Biden) I'd expect the CIA to organize some kind of a coup with the local oligarchs to get rid of him before launching nukes.

I suspect this operation is currently in the works.

Removing Putin would be massive relief for most of Russia I think, and most of the world at this point. The man is unhinged

NATO is an agreement to initiate MAD if needed. That's the point of NATO.

That is incorrect. NATO policy is "no-first use" for nuclear weapons. The member countries individually can make decision. Nothing in NATO mandates use of nuclear weapons, just that they join in common defense.

I think you misunderstood. "Initiating MAD" doesn't mean launching an attack. It means assuring that any full nuclear attack is met with a similar counter attack, ie. the "Mutual" part of "Assured Destruction". If you don't respond... there's no MAD.

Do you really think that the US will nuke Russia to protect Poland or Germany?

Germany is virtually the sole power keeping the EU from collapsing on itself economically geographically and politically, even if France is the one with the nuclear arsenal.

The US has thousands of US soldiers in EU NATO states, do you think US will just sit there and talk about financial sanctions while Putin kills US troops in Europe?

By the way Germany also has nukes, not their own ones, but they are not just there for fun.

While there are nukes in Germany, they're not Germany's nukes unless Germany can determine when/where said nukes are used. (The ability to stop the US from using them is not enough.)

If Russia uses nuclear weapons first in a European war then yes. But the targets would probably be Russian forces in or approaching Poland or Germany rather than mainland Russia itself.

> And? They can't actually respond militarily because MAD.

Of course they would respond. MAD is just a mad possibility we all have to accept. As soon as russia attacks NATO with conventional weapons it will fight back with conventional weapons. But if Putin starts nukes, well than there is obviously only one answers to it (nukes).

What does “democracy” have to do with anything? If Biden doesn’t get reelected, it’s not going to be due to anything he does to Russia.