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Comment by Victerius | Hacker News Reader

If Russia uses nuclear weapons against Ukraine, NATO will deliver a crippling response, as Jake Sullivan has said. There is no realistic scenario where Russia wins or holds on to its gains.

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The problem is NATO keeps delivering crippling responses, but Russia has not backed down yet. I wonder what is the appropriate response to a tactical nuke. Hopefully not another one.

Even if it doesn't go nuclear, millions can die. See the 2nd Congo War for a recent example, 5.4 million excess deaths due to disease and starvation. The loss of life for combatants in that war is less than the total in Russia-Ukraine so far.

Putin isn't even the worst guy in the regime. The least bloody outcome would be a Russian revolution but I think that's asking for a lot of luck and hope. For a world that's ignored the risk of having nuclear weapons, we may now unwittingly be stuck in a trap in which using them is unavoidable.

https://human-rights.cmc.edu/2022/04/14/russias-genocide-han...

The only real deterrent to nuclear use is being serious about retaliations imo. I think a very strong statement such as "using nuclear weapons against whoever will be seen as a declaration of war against us" is necessary.

Countries actively avoid proliferating nuclear power because of the existing powers. Letting them be used against you is a strong signal and will weaken trust. It will become even more of an arms race.

That's the point, he won't use it """against Ukraine""" but to """defend Russian territory""".

Oh yes, I definitely want a neoocon warhawk like Jake Sullivan in charge of deciding if we descend into nuclear Armageddon.

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