I don't agree it was reasonable that Ukraine couldn't strike airbases when it had the chance. Meanwhile it's Russia that is escalating: targeting civilians on a mass and individual scale, torturing and murdering POWs, using gas. They know there will only be condemnation and hand-wringing but no action.
It is not even as embarrassing as some people think.
Ukraine send well trained troops there while they were needed in the east. Now they are loosing the ground there but cant really pull out. While loosing trained soldiers as well.
That this kind of rhetoric completely devoid of historical knowledge and common sense is so widespread tells me so many people have a completely broken model of Putin's motivations. Unfortunately it is these same people that are pushing hard for escalation. It's strange to see people's opinions be so completely disconnected from reality while also being correlated to such a high degree.
No, the fact that Russia didn't use nukes in response to Kursk incursion says nothing about his willingness to use nukes when the security of the state is actually at risk. Nuclear weapons will change the complexion of this war in ways that neither side can fully predict. It is rational to avoid moving the war to an unpredictable stage when the current stage is manageable in your favor. Not every border skirmish is created equal. They do not all rationally warrant the use of nuclear weapons.
Blowing some shit up in the grey zone (or even Kursk) is one thing - his state hasn’t been threatened in any real way (which is their nuke threshold policy).
However, lobbing western made (and make no mistake, western operated) weapons into their internationally recognized territory is an entirely different ballgame.
That’s a typical drive-by headline. Did you even read the article? Or the first hand sources? Putin never once threatened using nukes out of the blue like some kind of madman - only reinstated their pretty bog standard nuclear defense policy when asked about it. Context is important, don’t be an idiot.
