Commentary
Vladimir Putin is desperate, which is good and bad. The bad—the really bad—is that cornered animals tend to lash out.
In Putin’s case, that could include the use of tactical nuclear weapons or a “stray” artillery shell hitting Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Either act would escalate the war and might draw in the NATO alliance directly.
Apparently willing to risk it, Putin has taken two major steps in the past weeks. He deployed tactical nuclear weapons to his closest ally, Belarus. And he withdrew from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, which limits Russian and NATO forces. Putin has already vowed to defend his Ukrainian conquests with nuclear weapons….
