Putin is inching towards his nukes, threatening to annihilate the world if he fails to capture Ukraine, says foreign affairs expert

The subject of nuclear weapons is being pushed into the foreground by Russian media and officials.

Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, said that the risk of a global nuclear war is very real. This ominous warning came not from some deranged psychopath – like the ones who regularly demand Kyiv to be nuked on Russian state TV. These were the words of the top diplomat of the Russian Federation.

In diplomatic parlance, Lavrov essentially admitted that their vaunted offensive in Donbas is stalling, the war is lost, and Russia has nothing to counter Western weapons pouring in Ukraine. Politically and militarily, Russia is backed into a corner.

Since Putin can’t accept defeat, the Kremlin is indicating that nuclear weapons are on the table as its last resort in this war.

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This is nothing less than a threat to unleash an atomic war on the world. Even if Lavrov personally may not be eager to bring the end of days – being but a minister of the Russian state – his overlord is perfectly capable of and ready for the apocalypse. Lavrov merely broadcasts his master’s will.

In any case, this was a perfectly serious statement. I’d say it’s on the same level as the infamous article “On the unity of Russian and Ukrainian peoples,” written by Putin last summer. In that text, the dictator made a plain commitment to destroying Ukraine as a political entity if it refuses to forego its sovereignty and get absorbed by Russia.

Lavrov threatens the world with destruction, if it prevents Putin from annihilating Ukraine. Both him and Putin are dead serious. In my opinion, the international community should respond to these threats in a way that runs contrary to Putin’s expectations.

After launching its mad, irrational, and barbaric invasion of Ukraine, Russia has revealed that it’s no longer a credible, rational actor in the international arena. World leaders realize that Russian nuclear threats are best taken seriously, because the failure to do so would be prohibitively expensive. After all, the continued existence of human civilization is at stake. One person is currently openly threatening to destroy our civilization if his ludicrous demands are not met. This is nuclear terrorism on a grand scale – it’s not just some major city like New York that’s at stake, it’s all of humanity.

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Giving in to the terrorist’s demands is out of the question, it would only embolden him to make further demands, and inspire copycats. Sooner or later, the world will have to call his bluff at one red line or another, risking a global nuclear war. The only difference is that the longer we appease the terrorist, the more powerful he becomes, and the weaker and more demoralized the rest of the world will be. Appeasement is not an option.

What’s left to do then? Any security service official can answer that: the only option available is to eliminate the terrorist, who is holding the whole planet hostage, trying to force us all to meet his political demands. Not unlike a hypothetical asteroid, hurtling to wards Earth, this is a global problem that demands a global solution.

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In other words, scientists, diplomats, politicians, doctors, spies, soldiers, all have to put aside their grievances and work towards the resolution of one common problem. The West has started to realize the scope of the threat, and the EU, G7, and NATO are all working together, hand-in-glove.

They will be followed by China – another crucial center of the modern world. Not to mention that Russia is relegated to being China’s vassal now. Beijing is in a position to order Putin around.

Being somewhat hostile to the United States, the CCP looked upon Putin very favorably. China’s President Xi Jinping gave Putin the green light to invade Ukraine only after the conclusion of the Beijing Olympics, and Russia obeyed.

But despite favoring Russia over the United States, China isn’t looking forward to perishing in the fires of nuclear Armageddon for Putin’s obsession with Ukraine. I think Jinping told Putin: “Go ahead, capture Ukraine if you can, but no nukes – we definitely don’t need that.” China famously has the long-term perspective of becoming the primary economic, cultural, and scientific powerhouse of the planet. It has no ambition to transform into a radioactive wasteland – something Putin’s gamble is pushing them towards.

That’s why, following Lavrov’s threat, China’s foreign ministry issued a rather harsh, by Chinese standards, statement: “No one wants WWIII. All sides must show restraint around the Ukrainian crisis and avoid escalating the conflict.” Beijing is signaling to Putin that Russia won’t receive financial, technological, or military aid from China. Not even sympathies. And without Chinese support, the proverbial Russian warship has but one course to follow.

He brainwashed his populace into expecting a triumph, but as it turns out, it will be Ukraine parading its troops across Moscow. The problem is that Putin has no other way out. Nuclear war is all he thinks about now. That’s his only perceived salvation from a humiliating military defeat in Ukraine.

Putin doesn’t know what to do next, so his finger is creeping towards the nuclear “button.” That’s why I’m certain that Chinese security service will soon join their Western counterparts in figuring out a way to neutralize the Russian dictator – if it hasn’t happened already. Everyone around the globe will be pooling their resources towards stopping Putin. After all, nuclear war must be averted.