Could Russia Use Nukes in Ukraine?

One of the biggest topics headlining the Western MSM in the last week has been all the baseless talk, rhetorically asking “Could Russia, or often specifically ‘Putin’, use nuclear weapons in Ukraine?”

Implying of course that to ask the question is to answer it.

And often more oddly and specifically about “tactical nuclear weapons”.
The BBC asked, “Ukraine war: Could Russia use tactical nuclear weapons?”
and CNN asserted “Putin's tactical nuclear weapons could pack the same punch as atomic bombs dropped on Japan”

All of this was couched in the false narrative that it would be out of desperation because “Russia is losing the war” and of course that the Russian leader is “mad, insane”. So, of course he would.

Some of the apparent spark for this is comments that President Putin made in a speech:
 “In the event of a threat to the territorial integrity of our country and to defend Russia and our people, we will certainly make use of all weapon systems available to us. This is not a bluff.”
And THIS is the supposed implied threat that generated such rampant speculation and fear-mongering.

Of course, this was all completely out of context and ignored the paragraph just above and the one below again below it in the same speech that made clear that Putin was saying this as a response because he had received threats from Western politicians that they could use nuclear weapons against Russia.
“to the statements made by some high-ranking representatives of the leading NATO countries on the possibility and admissibility of using weapons of mass destruction – nuclear weapons – against Russia”.
And again “those who are using nuclear blackmail against us”
The media conveniently chose to ignore this.

The policy and conditions for Russian nuclear use are clear and were subsequently reiterated again this week, only in the event of:
1. A nuclear first strike against Russia
2. A conventional invasion of Russia of such magnitude that It threatened the existence of the state

Clearly neither of these are on the table in the Russian intervention in Ukraine.
And, lets be frank, Russia doesn’t need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine to meet its goals. Until now the Russian military has used only 10% of their active duty conventional forces in their self-limited “Special Military Operation” but are now taking off the SMO kid gloves and have just called up an additional 300,000 reservists. More than enough to finish the job.

So why the fear mongering?
Well certainly demonization of Russia and its leader is a constant motivation for such disinformation campaigns.
And that’s exactly what this is – a baseless, Western government generated and media propagated disinformation campaign.

But don’t take my word for it.
Take the US intelligence services and the Pentagon’s response,
On Wednesday, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that U.S. intelligence has "no indication" that events in Ukraine would escalate to that level at this time and that US intelligence officials don't expect Putin to launch a nuclear missile”.

And Lt Commander Joshua Kelsey, spokesperson for U.S. Strategic Command said,“We haven’t seen any evidence at this time that Russia will use nuclear weapons. We take these threats very seriously, but we have not seen any reason to adjust our own nuclear posture at this time.”

At least on this the US military appears to be more honest and responsible than the politicians and the propagandists in the 5th estate.