What It Means When Vladimir Putin Plays the Nuke Card
Every nuclear-armed state can draw its red lines
There are no small nuclear wars, given the catastrophic global effects of even a “limited” initial exchange and the likelihood of runaway retaliation, so every nuclear power on Earth—there are currently nine—has the power to end, well, everything.
And that means every nuclear-armed state can draw its red lines around the things it will never give up—or claims it will never give up—and then dare rival states to cross those lines. Maybe it’s a bluff. Maybe it's a serious threat to end the world. Every conflict between atomic powers, whether direct or by proxy, requires both sides to carefully read their opponent.
It gets easier with time. The more Putin threatens to nuke the planet, the easier it is for other world leaders to tell the bluffs from the real red lines.
Not really. Even a worst case scenario, the vast majority of humans will survive and eventually re-build.