It seems that President Biden’s tough talk and so called gaffe (I think more likely a well considered, planned, and executed off script remark) has had it’s desired effect. Tonight the Kremlin announced that they “don’t need to use Nukes in Ukraine” and that:
Russia would only use nuclear weapons against a threat to "existence of the state"
An argument that I for one have been making in previous comments. Putin is a shitty military commander and strategist, that much can’t be credibly disputed, but he’s NOT stupid and he’s not suicidal. He, like all authoritarians, is first and foremost a bully and as is always the case with bullies, a coward as well.
After tacet saber rattling about nukes (the result of keeping quiet when the subject comes up), the Kremlin is now going out of its way to make it clear that’s not on the agenda. They know they have miscalulated NATO and Biden, and Biden’s recent comments make it clear, he won’t be a pushover. With the lousy performance of the Russian military in Ukraine, it must be painfully obvious to them that against NATO they would have zero hope.