Iskander, a Russian tactical nuclear missile
Introduction – May 6, 2024
Note that tactical nuclear weapons are quite distinct from strategic nuclear weapons.
Unlike nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles that can destroy entire cities, tactical nuclear weapons are used on the battlefield and are less powerful and can have a yield as small as 1 kiloton.
In contrast the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima during WWII was 15 kilotons.
Unfortunately however, we doubt that the West will take heed of Russia’s warning. Europe and the U.S. seem committed to some sort of military confrontation with Russia and its allies over Ukraine. Ed.
Putin orders military to practice tactical NUKE strike as Kremlin official warns of ‘world catastrophe’ if NATO troops are sent to Ukraine
James Reynolds – The Daily Mail May 6, 2024
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered troops based near Ukraine to practice nuclear weapons scenarios in a bid to ‘deter’ adversaries following perceived threats of escalation from Western leaders.
Military drills in the undisclosed ‘near future’ will include practice for the preparation and deployment of non-strategic nuclear weapons, Russia’s defence ministry claimed.
The ministry said today the exercises would be carried out ‘in response to provocative statements and threats by certain Western officials against the Russian Federation’, the Kremlin citing threats to deploy troops in Ukraine.
‘It’s obvious we are talking about statements from Mr. Macron and statements from British representatives,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked by reporters what had prompted the drills, adding: ‘This is a completely new round of escalating tensions. It is unprecedented and requires special measures.’
A Russian diplomat today said Moscow would have to increase its entire missile arsenal as a deterrent following what was framed as the worst breakdown in relations since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
‘We are now at the stage of open confrontation, which, I hope, will not result in a direct armed conflict,’ Russian Ambassador-at-Large Grigory Mashkov told the state RIA news agency.
Mashkov added that it will now be necessary to take ‘further steps to strengthen the country’s defense capability, including building up the missile arsenal, in order to discourage any potential enemy from testing Russia’s strength.’
He added that Russia was already doing a lot in this area but that more was needed given what he said was the growing threat from the West and the technological advances in most types of missiles, from tactical to inter-continental.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Russia is set to spend 7.1% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on the military, or more than a third of total government spending, in 2024.
Ramping up drills, Putin reportedly told Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu to prepare missile firing exercises in the near future ‘in order to increase the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to fulfil combat missions’.
Troops from the Southern Military District, which borders Ukraine and includes the occupied Ukrainian territories will take part in the drills, the ministry said.
Dmitry Medvedev
Close Putin ally and former President Dmitry Medvedev said today on Telegram that ‘the number of scoundrels among the Western political elite calling for sending their troops to a non-existent country is expanding’.
‘Now it includes representatives of the US Congress, French and British leadership, and individual madmen from the Baltic states and Poland…’
‘Sending your troops to the territory of…Ukraine will entail the direct entry of their countries into the war, to which we will have to respond.
‘And, alas, not in the territory of… Ukraine. In this case, none of them will be able to hide either on Capitol Hill, or in the Elysee Palace, or in 10 Downing Street.
‘A world catastrophe will come.’
As part of a new drive of ‘deterrence’, Russia is also understood to have commissioned a notable Russian political scientist to explore possible avenues for pushing back what is perceived as an encroaching West including nuclear deterrence.
Sergey Karganov, a longtime advisor to Putin and his predecessor Boris Yeltsin, has reportedly been commissioned to carry out eight studies into topics including the ‘theory and practice of nuclear deterrence’ within the context of Russia’s current political climate, and how Russia might go about ‘developing’ such a deterrence with Russia, China, India and Pakistan.
The 71-year-old, who currently heads the Council for Foreign and Defence Policy, is notable for his post-USSR doctrine suggesting Russia should aim to leverage Russian minorities living nearby to spread and maintain its influence in former dominions.
Last year, he called for Russia to launch nuclear strikes on Europe as a pre-emptive measure to resolve the conflict in Ukraine and restore the perceived authority of the nuclear threat.
The escalation of Russian nuclear rhetoric follows weeks of more pronounced threats from the West to intervene in the conflict in Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron recently told The Economist he ‘absolutely’ stands by pledges to put boots on the ground in Ukraine if push comes to shove.
‘As I said, I’m not ruling anything out, because we are facing someone who is not ruling anything out,’ he told the magazine in an interview published last Thursday.
Macron has also called on Europe to reduce reliance on the United States and develop independent capacity to face down hostile foreign actors.
In February, Putin warned Macron that if France were to send any troops to Ukraine, they would meet the same fate as Napoleon Bonaparte’s Grand Armée, whose 1812 invasion ended in staggering defeat and huge casualties.
British Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron also received condemnation from Russia after telling reporters in Kyiv that Ukraine could use British-supplied missiles as they saw fit, including firing into Russian territory and lifting a previously held requirement only to fire Storm Shadow missiles within Ukraine.
The Kremlin called Lord Cameron’s statement a ‘direct escalation’ of the war in Ukraine deemed ‘dangerous to European security’.
Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said comments made on Friday could imperil the entire system of European security architecture – and name checked Macron while condemning perceived threats from the West.
‘The statement [from Macron] is very important and very dangerous,’ Peskov told reporters on Friday.
Macron ‘continues to constantly talk about the possibility of direct involvement on the ground in the conflict around Ukraine. This is a very dangerous trend,’ he added.
Peskov said the recent statements by Macron and Cameron ‘potentially pose a danger to European security, to the entire European security architecture’.
‘We see a dangerous tendency towards escalation in official statements. This is raising our concern,’ he added.
US House Leader Hakeem Jeffries added to Russian fears with comments in a CBS interview this week that if Ukraine falls ‘there’s a significant likelihood that America will have to get into the conflict — not simply with our money, but with our servicewomen and our servicemen’.
Experts following developments in the war suggest Macron’s comments reflect a new approach of ‘strategic ambiguity’ mirroring threats from Russia.
Vlad Şutea, founder and lead analyst at early warning and threatcasting group T-Intelligence, told MailOnline: ‘Macron is one of the few Western European leaders to understand the value of strategic ambiguity.
‘Putin doesn’t take anything off the table, neither should we. And that includes sending troops, in whichever capacity that is feasible.’
‘Chances are, Macron and other European leaders have outlined implicit thresholds that could prompt direct Western intervention.
‘A scenario warranting action could entail a collapse of the front in the East, leading to further Russian encroachment, posing a threat to cities like Kyiv, Odesa, and, albeit less likely, western regions such as Lviv.
‘Our reading is that the intra-NATO discussions on this topic have not been as hypothetical as believed.
‘One should remember that France also recently signed a security agreement with Moldova and has a robust presence in Romania as part of the NATO battle group that will be elevated to brigade-level in 2025.’
He suggested that criticism of Macron, claiming the comments could invite nuclear Armageddon, played into the Kremlin’s hands.
‘This appears to be typical pro-Russian scaremongering, aimed at dissuading bold Western action,’ he said. ‘The true irresponsibility lies in shying away from confronting Russia.’
‘Weakness invites aggression and this is particularly relevant when talking about Putin’s Russia.’
Amid rising tensions, Macron is today to host Chinese leader Xi Jinping for a state visit in a bid to persuade him to switch positions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In Xi’s first visit to Europe since 2019, he is also expected to give talks in Serbia and Hungary.
President Xi has said he wants to find peace in Ukraine but has been a careful ally to Putin and is expected to host the Russian leader in Beijing next month.
In an op-ed for Le Figaro daily, Xi recently said that he wanted to work with the international community to find ways to solve the conflict sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while emphasising that China was ‘neither a party nor a participant’.
‘We hope that peace and stability will return quickly to Europe, and intend to work with France and the entire international community to find good paths to resolve the crisis,’ he wrote.
I was watching Scott Ritter on Judging Freedom yesterday.
I am pretty out there with my views on nukes and WW3, but Ritter was ahead of me yesterday, because he gave an alternative scenario.
Ritter suggests that if F16s (nuke capable) are delivered to UKraine, and NATO Nazi are deployed to UKraine, then Russia will use tactical nukes to destroy NATO bases in countries directly supporting these Nazi troops and air bases. So Romania, Poland and Germany, and also take out the decision making centers in said countries. Then the ball is in Washington’s court, because they either do nothing, or they counter strike, and the Russians do the same, and it’s all over.
Me, I see huge flaws in what Ritter suggests. I’m not saying he’s wrong, just that Nazi UK, and Nazi France have nukes, not that the UK has any control over Trident, but they could, and have probably taken steps to deliver nukes without Trident. The UK abandoned RAF delivered nukes sometime ago, but I suspect this has changed.
Ritter also mentioned UKraine being given a nuke. He didn’t say they had, but he raised it. Would Russia know if UKraine had been given one, or twenty nukes?
My view, why just nuke Romaina, Poland and Germany, surely you’d also nuke Britain and France? This would surely send a signal to Washington, that NATO is mortally wounded, and if you want some, here we are.
I don’t know how bad the UKrainian army is, but many say it’s just weeks from collapse, and Mocron’s own comments alludes to this being the case.
As I’ve said many times in the past, the stakes are so high for the Nazis and the City Crime Cartels. It’s literally bust or win.
BS
Presumably these Russkies will be practicing getting under the kitchen table and under the door lintels..
pretty rapid like…just like we did at school years ago after watching some yankee fear porn called ‘The Day After’..
It was excellent as I remember..crouched down under the desk I could see right up the French mistresses A line skirt and clocked her flowery knickers..
Left a profound impression on me it did…
If Russia has to respond with direct attacks on the west hopefully it makes it personal with its missile technology and attacks the scumbags at the top fomenting all this. Put them on the front line, make them casualties of war. Send people like Victoria Nuland and Anthony Blinken a photo of a missile with their name on it and several co-ordinates, no need for addresses, and when they get the co-ordinates mapped out – they couldn’t do it – they’ll discover it’s several of their addresses to choose from: home address; second home; favourite hotel suite; cabin in the woods; where they moor their little boat by the lake etc.
Change the nature of warfare forever. Put those who threaten or start war right on the front line. Take the war to their door. It’d only need a few hits and misses on these people – and those 500 miles away when a missile hits home will say phew! that one nearly got me – and they’ll start talking peace soon enough.
NATO is a joke! It’s like Pee Wee Herman bluffing Mike Tyson. Russia would whip their asses six ways from Sunday!
The Jew-west can’t prosecute a war against Russia no matter how much they might want to. To want to fight Russia is insane. It’s SUICIDE! And absurd to think for a second Russia can be challenged!
Hoo boy! Maybe I was wrong about Pootin shootin thems Kinzhall super-hyperbolic self-accelerating noo queer misspells and such. Using Tsiolkovsky’s extra normal rocket equation attenuation balanced with negative kinetic quantum energy asymptotically approaching a phallocentric black hole gravitationally induced re-entry I predict that with the help of Kim Un Jong’s six gorillion ton war-head that Biden is a goner! Merica is kaput because Pootins Lubavitchers are going to declare war on Bidens Lubavitchers. Just you wait! Any day now.
And Khrushchev did land those probes on Venus in the sixties and sent back a picture using nothing more than a little dipole antenna right through 300 mile an hour sulfuric clouds. NASA still gets a datum or two from Voyager with a super big antenna because the signal is down to one septillionth of a watt. Yep, I’m a believer! That sure beats Mercia astronauts driving around the moon in a golf cart. Wouldn’t you say? Who says escape velocity has never been achieved or that intercontinental rockets are a hoax? You had better believe that any day now WWIII is going to start with hydrogen bombs galore. Get ready, it’s coming. That’s what the Jews have been telling us for about 80 years now.
The dangerous clown Macron and his British companion pushed too far .. The Russian General Staff considers to nuclear strike Selidovo near Donetsk city .. wich has many foreign soldiers and instructors ..
” In contrast the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima during WWII was 15 kilotons.”
Nope…
No Nukes were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
They were FIREBOMBED, as most of their buildings were constructed with wood.
Photos of the aftermath show buildings collapsing down into their footprint and streets clear of debris..where as a nuke would spread carnage horizontally..no evidence of this.
Critical thinker should wonder why they rebuilt these Japanese cities so quickly if their was any “radiation “?!?
Steel and concrete structures were not vapourized, but were relatively left more intact.
Do they wonder why Japanese targets were chosen to be “nuked”?…mainly because they were thousands of miles away, out of sight and out of mind… thus the truth wouldn’t get out as fast, if at all, if it occurred in Europe.
Nukes???..All propoganda and BS.
Remember the old dueling days? I don’t, but I’ve watched some old footages.
There’s one film where someone pretends to be dead, but most end as soon as someone gets a cut, and honour is served.
In simplistic terms, this is what we have, a duel for the global heart, but in this duel, there are no scratches or cuts, it’s then end of everything.
Putin said this several times. If Russia can’t be an active member of the global community, then there will be nothing, because we don’t see a world where Russia is excluded.
The NWO Satanic Nazi West has a very similar position. If we can’t control the world (with Russian resources), there won’t be a world to control.
Remember the biblical story about the baby and cutting it in half? In this version, they both agree to killing the baby.
Certainly, Russia has the moral high ground, and is on the right side of history, and Russia will likely prevail, but at great cost. Who would put money on this being resolved?
@ carl jones
in germany only US troops have hands
on nuke trigger; it would not be better
in german hands . so or so it will be worst .
US could do like Satanjahu a nuklear
provocation + we are finished . o would I
be happy in spain . or poles or israhell
would try a provocation . both hate germans
would enjoy nukes on germany not important
from where . this is a multidimensional
military chessgame .
Carl Jones you need help
contact me
Nukes are fake , no one can vaporize a city in milliseconds, so scratch that off your list of concerns.
Who controls Putin / Russia ? Five year prison sentence for holocaust denial in Russia became law under Putin– that’s who .The same chicken twirlers that control the west — U.S./ NATO control BRICS . Just another performance of the Hegelian two step
Prof Susan Foster: appears to be grooming me! She’s offering me some sort of help, be leaves no contact details. Maybe she’s in Yellow Pages, so if anyone has an old copy, let me know if you can find this old bird.
@ Carl…
So you’ve seen old footage of men dueling have you..very interesting…
…that reminds me of a time many years ago..playing a CD of Bach’s Art of the Fugue at a card night…the imbecile to my left inquired…”Whats this?”…I replied..” Bach’s Art of the fugue”… to which he responded…” Is this Bach playing it?”….
chesterton: I was making the point (pun intended) that most duels were high forms of brinkmanship, and that neither party would suffer more than a cut or poke.
The geopolitical circus is such a game, but instead of awards, they have nukes.
Either way, nukes on Japan, it’s clear they exist, and since 9/11, they’ve used many small micronukes, or subcritical weapons. The evidence is there for everyone to see. Buncefield, Taba HIlton, UN compound in Baghdad, Australian embassy in Jakarta, Bali, Rafik Hariri’s assassination in Beirut, and Oaklahoma. Not a full list, but every has visible signs of over pressure which cannot be achieved with conventional explosives.