The recent developments in Ukraine have ignited active discussions all over the globe, mostly centered around nuclear arms and their disarmament. The advocates of a nuclear weapons free world would certainly have to do some re-thinking. The development and possession of nuclear weapons have done more good than harm to their possessors.
After the break-up of the Soviet Union, the independent nation of Ukraine was left with a huge stockpile of Soviet nuclear weapons. But in a pact with Russia and the western powers, she gave it all up, opting to remain a non-nuclear state. I am very sure that had Ukraine retained those weapons, Russia would have thought a hundred times before meddling in their internal strife.
The same knowledge affects the Western powers/NATO too. Other than barking and threatening punitive sanctions against Russia, they are utterly helpless in getting involved militarily because of the sizable Russian nuclear arsenal and their means of delivering it anywhere on the globe. Otherwise Putin's logic of indirectly supporting the separatists was the same as that adopted by Hitler while invading Poland (to protect the German minority there).
So the concept of the so-called nuclear umbrella stands totally exposed. When push comes to shove, no umbrella would protect you or come forward to save you. Nations that settle comfortably under someone else's nuclear umbrella have to rethink their strategies.
After the break-up of the Soviet Union, the independent nation of Ukraine was left with a huge stockpile of Soviet nuclear weapons. But in a pact with Russia and the western powers, she gave it all up, opting to remain a non-nuclear state. I am very sure that had Ukraine retained those weapons, Russia would have thought a hundred times before meddling in their internal strife.
The same knowledge affects the Western powers/NATO too. Other than barking and threatening punitive sanctions against Russia, they are utterly helpless in getting involved militarily because of the sizable Russian nuclear arsenal and their means of delivering it anywhere on the globe. Otherwise Putin's logic of indirectly supporting the separatists was the same as that adopted by Hitler while invading Poland (to protect the German minority there).
So the concept of the so-called nuclear umbrella stands totally exposed. When push comes to shove, no umbrella would protect you or come forward to save you. Nations that settle comfortably under someone else's nuclear umbrella have to rethink their strategies.
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