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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAnother day, another nuclear threat from russia.
Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons if faced with 'unfriendly actions,' Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu claimed in an interview with TASS state news agency on April 24.
Shoigu said Moscow was "closely monitoring" the "military preparations" of European countries, as they seek to ramp up defense spending and production in the face of the U.S. reducing its military presence on the continent.
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Shoigu also said that any European future peacekeeping forces deployed to Ukraine to monitor a ceasefire would also be seen by the Kremlin as a provocation.
"Sensible politicians in Europe understand that the implementation of such a scenario could lead to a direct clash between NATO and Russia and subsequently to World War III," he said.
https://kyivindependent.com/shoigu-threatens-europe-with-nuclear-weapons-if-russia-is-faced-with-unfriendly-actions/
Honestly, a part of me wishes they would just do it and give the world an excuse to wipe them off the map. Not that I actually think this is anything more than yet another bluff.

wcmagumba
(3,857 posts)
Crunchy Frog
(27,563 posts)deployed in Ukraine, as well as advanced fighter jets to protect civilian areas from bombing, drone, and artillery attacks.
Let the russians whine and sulk and threaten all they like.
iemanja
(55,879 posts)and the Europeans know it.
notinkansas
(1,231 posts)But American citizens would not support trump.
iemanja
(55,879 posts)Clearly, Trump doesnt care what any of us think, not even his own supporters and donors.
And sadly many Americans know it too
roamer65
(37,559 posts)Pakistani minister said they have 130 nukes aimed at India.
Crunchy Frog
(27,563 posts)SheltieLover
(66,967 posts)Would attacking a neighboring country, a soverign nation, & countinuing to destroy their countty, murdering citizens & disappearing 35,000 of their children qualify as 'unfriendly actions?'
Go nuke yourself pootin.
Doodley
(10,791 posts)Crunchy Frog
(27,563 posts)after watching what they've been doing to Ukraine for the past 3+ years I have some kind of nasty fantasies.
FWIW, I don't believe they would actually start a nuclear war. But if they did start one, they wouldn't be the ones to finish it, and that's even if the US stayed out of it.
I would prefer it if everyone would simply treat them like they're bluffing, and just do whatever they think is necessary to end the war. European forces in Ukrainian controlled Ukraine will never be seen as an existential threat by russia, no matter how much they claim it is. The longer this war goes on, the more dangerous things become, and it won't be ended by simply giving Putin most or all of what he's demanding.
DFW
(57,829 posts)And if so, do they thus accord the Ukrainians the right to use nuclear weapons on them?
Attilatheblond
(5,708 posts)Seems Russia waited until Ukraine was disarmed of its own nukes to invade that nation. Maybe it's time to give Ukraine back their nukes AND let them join NATO. If Russia isn't the aggressor (they most certainly are) why would it bother them?
DFW
(57,829 posts)If I remember correctly, the Ukraine gave its nukes back to the Soviet leadership, what was left of it, and that was Putin. Obviously, they thought they'd never need them again, and if Putin had not been possessed of ambition of rebuilding the Soviet Empire, the Ukrainians would have been right. For someone who has been a sly strategist elsewhere, Putin certainly made a major blunder when he assessed the local resistance to being re-absorbed into the Empire. Just like Cheney and Rumsfeld with Iraq: "maybe six days, maybe six weeks, certainly not six months." Подумаете ещё раз, там, товарищи (better think about that again, there, comrades).
Tickle
(4,044 posts)Stop the killing, the hate...
If Jesus were considering coming back, He might glance at the modern world, note humanitys confusion between wisdom and information, and wisely decide to delay until we remember the difference."
SamuelTheThird
(205 posts)Celerity
(49,496 posts)you said:


The current population of Europe is 744,529,946 as of Friday, April 25, 2025.
More than twice the size of the US.
Part of you wishes that Russia would nuke us??
What the hell is wrong with you??
And you somehow think that the US would not be nuked as well??
Just wow.

Crunchy Frog
(27,563 posts)it's about how angry I am at Russia. It's about wanting russia to disappear.
But yeah, I'm a horrible psychopathic monster who has the power to shape US or EU policy to my evil ends.
You'd probably be better off putting me on "ignore".
Celerity
(49,496 posts)will be magically immune.
Nuclear war on the scale that involves the mass destruction of Europe (we also have nukes, so Russia will be lit up as well) will be devastating at a planetary level, including the US.
I cannot believe I am having this colloquy here on DU.
Crunchy Frog
(27,563 posts)things like putting all MAGAs into reeducation camps, or hold Nuremberg type trials, just for their votes and opinions, not their actions.
So, do you find my expressed fantasies to be more offensive than the words of actual high ranking Russian officials threatening to launch nuclear weapons at Europe? Because those are people who are close to or at the centers of power that can actually make those threats into reality.
But yeah, better to get yourself all worked up about some nobody's impotent fantasies about making russia disappear.
I normally really like your posts, but it might be best for both of us if we both put each other on ignore.
And I wouldn't keep hitting your head like that. It might cause long term injury.
Celerity
(49,496 posts)It is a direct and murderously hostile expression of hate towards us living in Europe and I will not ever give countenance to it.
I cannot express how enraging this is for me.
Crunchy Frog
(27,563 posts)Maybe it would help you to calm down if you had a drink or some weed, or touched grass, or something. In the meantime it might be best for both of us to utilize "ignore".
Celerity
(49,496 posts)I do not need to 'calm down'. Suggesting part of you wishes hundreds of millions of us Europeans would be nuked by Russia is beyond the pale. I am never going to see that as an acceptable utterance from people here (or anywhere), regardless of how you try and spin it ex post facto.
And I detest weed btw, not to mention it is completely outlawed here. Sweden has a very draconian (and stupid) stance on drugs, I have written about it here on DU multiple times in the past. Weed is considered by millions here to be almost the equivalent of shooting up heroin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nils_Bejerot
Nils Johan Artur Bejerot (September 21, 1921 November 29, 1988) was a Swedish psychiatrist and criminologist best known for his work on drug abuse and for coining the phrase Stockholm syndrome. Bejerot was one of the top drug abuse researchers in Sweden. His view that drug abuse was a criminal matter and that drug use should have severe penalties was highly influential in Sweden and in other countries. He believed that the cure for drug addiction was to make drugs unavailable and socially unacceptable. He also advocated the idea that drug abuse could transition from being a symptom to a disease in itself.
snip
Before Bejerot began to participate in the debate on drugs in 1965, it was the dominant view in Sweden that drug abuse was a private health problem and that law enforcement measures should be aimed at drug dealers. Before 1968, the maximum offence for a grave drug crime was one year in prison. Bejerot objected to this and stressed the importance of measures against the demand for drugs, against users, and their importance in the spread of addiction to new addicts. Bejerot did not accept unemployment and poor private economy as explanations for increased use of illegal drugs. He pointed out that alcohol abuse in the 1930s was comparatively limited in Sweden, despite high unemployment and economic depression.
snip
Berejot also strongly advocated for strict anti-drug laws. In 1965 Bejerot started to engage in the Swedish debate on drug abuse, encouraging tough action against the new and rapidly growing problem. He followed closely a rather clumsy experiment with legal prescription of heroin, amphetamine, etc. to drug addicts, studies that formed the basis for his thesis on the epidemic drug spread. Bejerot claimed that the program should increase the number of drug addicts and showed through counting of injection marks that the number of drug addicts in Stockholm continued to grow fast during the experiment. The program was stopped in 1968. From 1968 and onward, the difference between the epidemic type, the therapeutic type and the endemic type of drug abuse was a repeated issue in Bejerot's writing and lectures.
In 1969, Bejerot became one of the founders of the Association for a Drug-Free Society (RNS), which played - and still plays - an important role in shaping Swedish drug policies. RNS don't accept any of the state grants which are available. Bejerot warned of the consequences of an epidemic addiction, prompted by young, psychologically and socially unstable persons who, usually after direct personal initiation from another drug abuser, begin to use socially nonaccepted, intoxicating drugs to gain euphoria. In 1972, Bejerots' reports were used as one of the reasons for increasing the maximum penalty for grave drug offences in Sweden to 10 years in prison. In 1974 he was called to testify as one of 21 scientific experts on marijuana for a subcommittee of the United States Senate on the marijuana-hashish epidemic and its impact on United States security.
He advocated zero tolerance for illegal use and possession of drugs, including all drugs not covered by prescription, something that today is law in Sweden. In the early 1980s, he became one of the "Top 10 opinion molders" in Sweden for this. Bejerot is by UNODC and many others recognized as founder of the Swedish strategy against recreational use of drugs. His demand for zero tolerance as a drug policy was for a long time seen as extreme, but during the late 1970s opinion changed. He is without doubt the person most responsible for changing the Swedish drug policy in a restrictive direction something that made him a controversial person, both before and after his death. Many people considered Bejerot as a good humanist advocating a viable policy against narcotics and Robert DuPont considers him "the hero of the Swedish drug abuse story." Others view this as a reactionary hindering of new treatment practices against drug abuse.
snip
Crunchy Frog
(27,563 posts)Not trying to condescend to you, but I seem to really be setting you off, so I think it will be best for both of us if I ignore you and then can just stop reacting to you. It's up to you if you want to do the same.
Sorry to have to do that, since, as I said, I usually like your posts and find them informative.
Anyway, I guess this is goodbye for now.
EndlessWire
(7,737 posts)Each one of us is experiencing frustration. I, too, am tired of the constant nuclear threat from Russia. They always express themselves as if they will not be touched.
You know, all the neighboring countries of Russia are actively preparing defenses against a war with Russia. They all feel it. They are busy fortifying themselves because they don't plan to give in to Putin. If Putin triggers Article 5, HE will start WW3.
I think this last stuff is just against Trump threatening new sanctions. He's not going to do that, but what can he do against Ukraine? They're already in the suck. And Trump is a dumb fuck for sure. He doesn't care about dead people. He cares about the Nobel Prize. But, he's not getting that.
Take it easy, Guys. We'll get through this. You are both right, and you are both speaking from frustration, and fear. We are not afraid, and we WILL get rid of Trump. Please, neither one of you leave.
fujiyamasan
(58 posts)Maybe its best that the Russians dont nuke Europe, and Europe doesnt nuke them back and we can avoid WWIII and a nuclear holocaust. Theres a lot of places Id like to visit in Europe
I know were dealing with a Russian regime worse than any during the days of the Soviet Union, but hoping for WWIII is basically the stuff of sociopathic nihilists. Its the sort of comment I see on say Fox News or daily mail or some other cesspool.
EndlessWire
(7,737 posts)Relax. Crunchy Frog doesnt fit the definition of a socialistic nihilist. He/Shes comment isnt likely to cause Putin to start WW3. I read the comment with a view that CF is frustrated and tired of the useless threats from Russia. Thats all it was. DU is not a cesspool of socialistic nihilists. It is a place where you should be allowed to express frustration.
You will hear Russia, through its spokespeople, threaten nukes whenever they have no diplomacy to counter the retaliation they perceive could happen. Weve heard it for three years. We are just tired of it. In no way do we wish for WW3. Russia is exceptionally stupid with their rhetoric. Rather than ceasing their unwarranted war, they would rather threaten a war in which they would be reduced to a grease spot on the tundra.
Nobody was after Russia. Putin miscalculated, after their stunning annexation of other counties territory, and Crimea, and thought he could just walk in and take the seaports, rare earth, and the farmland. They were wrong. And yet, they keep digging the hole where they are currently mired, and periodically threaten the world with nukes.
I think we are all up and down, day to day, and it is precisely because we DO care what happens to others that our frustration levels fluctuate. We just wish that someone would punch Putin in the face, and make him stop. Sometimes the balance of the equation is like for like. It was just an expression of frustration, and being sick of being threatened. No need to make any more of it than that.
Crunchy Frog
(27,563 posts)And don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. I just sometimes stop engaging with certain posters for awhile, which I have done.
But yes, very frustrated with russia continually threatening nuclear war and seemingly getting away with the blackmail, as it seems somewhat effective in stopping other countries from giving Ukraine the support they need and deserve. If only they had an ally who was at least as supportive and reliable as North Korea.