[Serious] Is a limited nuclear exchange possible?

[Thumpalumpacus]

I think you'd need to move, fall out boy.

I just need to plant the field to read "Putin is a needledick" to get my very own MIRV targeted here......

He might be a bit preoccupied for lil ole you right now ...

[Anomalocaris]

I think limited nuclear exchange is unlikely unless the side which initiates it believe it gets ahead by attacking on limited scale even if the enemy successfully retaliates in kind.    Why else would you try?

Conversely any response to the initiation of limited nuclear attack by the other side must escalate to some degree so the other side doesn’t emerge in a better position even after absorbing your response.

So I think initiation of limited nuclear exchange is unlikely.   

I think the threshold for unlimited escalation occurs if the US believe it sees signs of imminent Russian nuclear use and then decide the it has a good enough chance of success with a preemptive attack on Russian nukes to actually try.   If such a effort does not succeed and Russia detects the attack in time to do something about it, then I believe they will launch an all out counter attack in response and a full scale nuclear exchange will result.

[Pat Mustard]

Putain is paranoid and detached from reality enough that a limited exchange escallating into an extinction event is a distinct possibility.

[Fake Messiah]

Putain is paranoid and detached from reality enough that a limited exchange escallating into an extinction event is a distinct possibility.

I don't think that Putin would nuke Europe or London because for starters it's where all his money is as well as his pals. Russian soldiers got food with them that expired in 2015, among other defective things, because Russia is a kleptocracy where these oligarchs steal from the army (and other places) and buy apartments in London and Berlin, yachts, put money in European banks, etc.

All Putin has is his bluffing to create hysteria, like those cyberattacks that were supposed to happen but never did.

He is like that middle aged loser who is still bragging about his high school touchdowns, but Putin is trying to show himself as a soviet guy who has its old might.

So people should really look upon Ukrainians who see Putin as he is and help Ukraine with its flight corridors.

[TheClearCleanStuff]

Not sure about limited but it's possible. Amerimutts get over confident and decide to fight Russia over their favorite money laundering country , Chinese join in Amerimutts and allies start to loose. Reeeeeeee Amerimutts use nukes, Putin uses nukes, earth turns into a cinder floating in space, any other civilizations that happen to exist on other planets refuse to care, earth emits radioactive gas and glows in the night sky, aliens look out and see it , yawn and go back to what they were doing still not caring. Billions of years go by, still no one cares.

[abaris]

Let's examine four scenarios:

a) Russia uses a nuke to level an important Ukrainian city?

b) Russia uses a nuke on an eastern NATO country, let's assume Poland?  (can be tactical nukes)

c) Russia or China uses a nuke to level a lower population U.S. city as a warning?

d) Russia begins using tactical nukes indiscriminately in Ukraine?

Are all of these likely to escalate into total nuclear annihilation, or is it more likely one side or the other will halt the escalation.

a) possible, but not likely. They want to use the cities, not destroy them. Especially when it comes to an important hub like Mariupol.

b) highly unlikely. It would mean WWIII and even Putin knows that.

c) see b.

d) unlikely, see a. They want to use the infrastructure, not to destroy it.

But all bets are off, once Putin is attacked by the West and conventionally painted into a corner.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Not sure about limited but it's possible. Amerimutts get over confident and decide to fight Russia over their favorite money laundering country , Chinese join in Amerimutts and allies start to loose. Reeeeeeee Amerimutts use nukes, Putin uses nukes, earth turns into a cinder floating in space, any other civilizations that happen to exist on other planets refuse to care, earth emits radioactive gas and glows in the night sky, aliens look out and see it , yawn and go back to what they were doing still not caring. Billions of years go by, still no one cares.

‘Amerimutts’? Whazzat?

Boru

[TheClearCleanStuff]

Not sure about limited but it's possible. Amerimutts get over confident and decide to fight Russia over their favorite money laundering country , Chinese join in Amerimutts and allies start to loose. Reeeeeeee Amerimutts use nukes, Putin uses nukes, earth turns into a cinder floating in space, any other civilizations that happen to exist on other planets refuse to care, earth emits radioactive gas and glows in the night sky, aliens look out and see it , yawn and go back to what they were doing still not caring. Billions of years go by, still no one cares.

‘Amerimutts’? Whazzat?

Boru

A reference to American's having no race or culture of their own.

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[HappySkeptic]

Tactical nukes won't be used to level cities, but they may be used on the battlefield, in territory that Russia isn't planning on keeping.

A few nukes could destroy Ukranian forces, and it is 100% certain that no country will use Nukes back.

[The Architect Of Fate]

Not sure about limited but it's possible. Amerimutts get over confident and decide to fight Russia over their favorite money laundering country , Chinese join in Amerimutts and allies start to loose. Reeeeeeee Amerimutts use nukes, Putin uses nukes, earth turns into a cinder floating in space, any other civilizations that happen to exist on other planets refuse to care, earth emits radioactive gas and glows in the night sky, aliens look out and see it , yawn and go back to what they were doing still not caring. Billions of years go by, still no one cares.

‘Amerimutts’? Whazzat?

Boru

It's a slur used by European racists to imply that Americans are too mixed or aren't white enough