No, you just don't understand him. Putin and his guys threaten whatever, and will do whatever they think they can get away with.

Again, you're in dangerous delusion that Putin doesn't evaluate first strikes.

I don't think China is relevant here.

Again you're [deliberately?] misunderstanding me. I'm not arguing about whether or not Putin will use nuclear weapons, or whether or not he would launch a first strike. My argument is entirely about the fact that the media is reporting that he "threatened to use nuclear weapons" as a direct quote, when he didn't utter those actual words.

Whether he will or not, isn't the issue here.

I said elsewhere in this thread how surprised I was that even HN's supposedly above average intelligence readership was failing to spot these manipulations. Your reply kind of proves the point.

Somehow my pointing out that "The media has quoted Putin as saying X when he didn't actually say those words" has mutated into "Normille doesn't believe Putin will do X"

It's this distinction really so difficult for people to grasp?

> My argument is entirely about the fact that the media is reporting that he "threatened to use nuclear weapons" as a direct quote, when he didn't utter those actual words.

Can you please stop being obtuse? You don't get direct incriminating words - you have to understand the meaning, and the intent of the words, and judge by them.

I'm surprised you're failing to see this.