I sure didn’t. I had elaborate ideas about how we could help the Ukrainians sink the black sea fleet on our behalf. And even then I figured we’d have to subsidize their insurance. Turns out they were just going to back down lol
Source Article (Forbes)
“What if” is irrelevant because they won’t but the “then what” is they would cry about that too and demand we stop doing that too and continue their impotent tantrum that the world continues to not let them do what they want to do, namely getting the Soviet Union back. Russia is impotent. Their threats don’t get them what they want. Their military doesn’t get them what they want. And most importantly, because I think I know where you’re going with this, their nukes do not get them what they want. Their nukes only get them dead, which is something Russia only wants to happen to a large subset of their population, notably not including their leadership, and nukes are very dangerous to them and not something they will ever consider because their lives depend on it. Their clandestine political activities almost got them what they want and worked in several other situations, and it makes sense that they will continue to exploit those as much as they are able to. Nukes are not actually on the table, no matter how much they shout about them.
You can’t keep crying out, “we got nukes and aren’t afraid to use them” and not expect the world to eventually stop giving a fuck about their empty threats. If they set off a nuke like Best Korea, they might get some real negotiations going.