(September 28, 2022 at 8:41 am)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:(September 28, 2022 at 8:33 am)Jehanne Wrote: Let's assume Russia loses and abandons the whole shabagan, and Ukraine joins the West & NATO with much fanfare and celebrations. Plan B, as I stated, would be to abandon START I & II and line the Russian & Ukrainian border with thermonuclear hydrogen weapons & missiles, which are much cheaper than the thousands of armored vehicles that the Ukrainians have destroyed. Hopefully, such will allow the Ukrainians to feel "safer", now that they are part of NATO with its Article 5 protections.
Once Russia loses, and I believe they will, Ukraine will either join NATO, or enter a treaty relationship with it, so that any future conflict will draw NATO in automatically. That is deterrence. Russia doesn't need to line the Ukrainian border with missiles, they have plenty in silos already that can be reprogrammed with Ukrainian targets as options.
I bet Ukraine will feel safer under NATO's umbrella after this Russian depredation. It's as if the Russians have never heard of the Law of Unintended Consequences. (cf. Finland and Sweden as well)
If they choose to place nuclear missiles on their border, who's to tell them otherwise??
