Putin puts Russia’s nuclear deterrent forces on alert

  “I thought,” he said, “that if the world was going to end we were meant to lie down or put a paper bag over our head or something.”

  “If you like, yes,” said Ford.

  “Will that help?” asked the barman.

  “No,” said Ford and gave him a friendly smile.

newby2• 4 years ago

You might find inspiration in 2012 movie Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. It does not have especially high rating but I liked it. I keep thinking about it today for some reason. Even if the world does not end, finding a friend is always a good thing.

[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1307068/

sAbakumoff2• 4 years ago

Personally, I would spend my last days in deep meditation until the very end.

Friends are not big help in this scenario…

newby2• 4 years ago

Actually, I just remembered even better movie to recommend, if you are not deterred by a black and white foreign movie with subtitles - The White Disease [1] - a movie from 1937 where a hardened dictator, the leader of a big well armed country is preparing to attack a small country during the pandemic of a new disease. The movie is on YouTube for free and I think it is a little known gem for movie connoisseurs.

[1] https://youtu.be/HJMUIBEzYnI

bluefirebrand2• 4 years ago

Putin is full of hot air.

I believe with how this is going, one of his advisors or generals will kill him before allowing him to actually fire nukes and initiate MAD.

These people might be ok letting him play war in the Ukraine but inviting annihilation from the rest of the world? I'm not so sure.

But then again, it doesn't seem like there's a lot of rational behavior coming out of Putin's Russia.

csomar• 4 years ago

This is more serious than you think. Putin thought that, by now, he'll be already controlling the capital and setting a new puppet government. He is clearly losing the war (he was looking for quick toppling of the government).

Putin is in a very bad situation right now. And having his nuclear "deterrents" in high-readiness doesn't help.

belter4• 4 years ago

Minutes ago the BBC confirmed both Ukraine and Russia will have negotiations, without pre-conditions in the Belarus border. This means:

- Its either a trap from Russia signals intelligence to be able to track Zelenskyy location. Hopefully he will not be there himself and is being well advised on that aspect by local foreign military experts. I love his Twitter posts, but I am sure all Russian military satellites are collecting signals intelligence and they can pick up their phones.

- Russia is really in a difficult spot militarily, knows about the advanced weapons coming in. Sadly that means the situation becomes more dangerous. I wish all the best to Ukraine but the sad true is the better things go for them the more dangerous it becomes for the world.

I have been tracking also lot's of US Black Hawks helicopters close to the Ukrainian border. The potential for an accident is high.

Slava Ukraini!

throwawaybutwhy4• 4 years ago

Not only that. European countries are keen on giving Kiyv more weapons [0], which is what Putin has been warning against.

[0] https://twitter.com/Bundeskanzler/status/1497632817450266632

zx85wes2• 4 years ago

In the past we took such warnings seriously. I think that was wise.

bluefirebrand2• 4 years ago

In the past we saw how decades of nuclear tension passed by without a single bomb dropping.

I don't think anyone has a real appetite for nuclear war.

muldoc2• 4 years ago

I fear that anyone inside Russia, that could be in a position to topple him has been silenced long ago. At this point, he is trenched in like Stalin.

nickpp2• 4 years ago

Every puppet has his or her limit though.

copperwater69• 4 years ago

The failures in logistics in the current escapade show he has surrounded himself by yes men IMO

peteradio2• 4 years ago

Yes men might as well be referred to as survival men.

Scarblac2• 4 years ago

I'm afraid anybody with the integrity to do something like that has been removed from power a long time ago already. Putin is surrounded by scared yes men, and he's always said there are strategic uses for nuclear weapons, not just a last line of defense by MAD.

Sebb767• 4 years ago

These weapons need to be ready to retaliate with few minutes of advance in case of a first strike and Russia is engaging in an active war directly on it's border. Additionally, they are fully aware they are provoking nuclear powers right now and Bombers have been patrolling in neighboring countries since the war started. If they haven't been in alert until now, I don't know what Russia is doing.

Obviously I'm not an expert, but this looks like a symbolic gesture at best.

heartbreak• 4 years ago

Or an offensive gesture.

karaterobot• 4 years ago

It's definitely a symbolic gesture, but it's not a reaction to any threat of a first strike nuclear assault by NATO. The symbolic meaning is "I'm the craziest guy in the room, don't fuck with me".

lamontcg• 4 years ago

Everyone was already fully aware of that.

MrDisposable• 4 years ago

Russia is committing suicide. And I hope it's not a physical suicide.

In any case, there's no coming back from this. My earlier prognosis of being trapped in a slavic North Korea technologically enslaved to China is starting to sound like an optimistic outcome.

TestSIM14• 4 years ago

Well, tomorrow we'll witness the economical suicide.

Sberbank - 1$ = 110,49₽

Tinkoff - 1$ = 153,75₽

And the markets are not even opened.

For the reference, before Putin started full-scale war against the Ukraine:

1$ = 78.66₽ (23rd Feb)

grishka• 4 years ago

It's far from the first time rouble has plummeted. Just a reminder that 10 years ago, before this whole Crimea thing, 1$ was around 30₽. In the 90s and early 00s rouble was unstable enough that cellular carriers billed in dollars and many stores had prices in "у.е." that were also dollars just with a different name.

notreallyserio5• 4 years ago

What do you mean when you say "Sberbank - 1$ = 110,49₽" and "Tinkoff - 1$ = 153,75₽"? Are these different exchange rates for different banks?

helge92103• 4 years ago

slavic North Korea

Russian Federation is mostly not slavic. Secession of federation regions (as it happened with USSR) is the next step on the path of the least resistance.

morpheos137• 4 years ago

You do realise that Russians are Slavs, correct?

mupuff1234• 4 years ago

Playing armchair general here, but I wonder what's the playbook if Russia decides to conduct a nuclear weapon "experiment".

throwawaybutwhy4• 4 years ago

Launching a missile to explode over the ocean to show resolve to use nukes. Next, launching a missile to explode over some Alaskan waste, if the previous step doesn't induce NATO to start the negotiations. Something like that.

phreazkzaway• 4 years ago

That would trigger an overwhelming response.

Nuclear weapons create huge EMP bursts which disrupt communications. One popular type of theoretical first strike is to detonate one or two missiles in the atmosphere to cause confusion, then follow up with the main salvos while peoples' main sensors and communications are blind.

belter4• 4 years ago

In other words, a madman capable of using Nuclear weapons, will be gentle, sensitive and follow etiquette with his Nuclear actions?

ukraineally7• 4 years ago

Playing armchair general here, but I wonder what's the playbook if Russia decides to conduct a nuclear weapon "experiment".

Any launch regardless of trajectory will be considered act of war against the world. There will be no warning shots here.

323• 4 years ago

That's not true.

There are more options available to US than just "fire all the missiles".

rdtsc• 4 years ago

Any launch regardless of trajectory

It's doubtful that Americans would choose to turn their cities to glass because Putin launched a single rocket in a non-US trajectory. I just don't see that happening.

hogrider• 4 years ago

Doing nothing except further sanctions lol

dekhn• 4 years ago

Same here, armchair general, but I have to wonder what would happen if we parked a carrier strike group off Vladivostok. Russia is enormous and can't defend all its cities.

noduerme• 4 years ago

Sure, that'll calm things down. Why don't we just recognize it the Republic of West Alaska while we're at it.

ukraineally7• 4 years ago

The days of mutually assured destruction is actually over. In the time needed for the ICBMs to reach targets on another continent is enough time to intercept those missiles. Obviously neighbours like Finland and Ukraine on the otherhand are problematic. I hope the best for them.

Many missile defense systems have been worked on, sattelites with high powered lasers, planes with high powered lasers, intercepting missiles like Israel's irondome, phalanx anti missile systems, and many others. No idea how effective but we shall see if we need them.

Canada is probably kicking itself pretty hardcore for not accepting the USA's offer to join missile defense. You can read how dumb we are here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Missile_Defence_in_Ca... lol or not.. Cold Lake Alberta is probably pretty quiet right now.

My city is tiny and probably not a target. If Toronto is hit, I'm jumping in my car and driving to help anyway I can. I recommend we all do the same, a pair of hands is enough to help.

walrus01• 4 years ago

Satellites with high powered lasers are a fantasy that don't exist right now.

The converted Boeing 747 airborne laser was a colossal failure and would have only been able to target a missile nearby in its boost/launch phase. It's now dismantled.

You think you can send fighters to gun down an icbm MIRV in its re-entry phase? Seriously?

ukraineally7• 4 years ago

Satellites with high powered lasers are a fantasy that don't exist right now.

You need approximately a 5KW laser to do the job. Virtually all satellites have this much power available.

So this 'fantasy' is that you don't believe these sattelites are in orbit? It's quite obvious that this wouldn't be public knowledge. I admit I have no idea.

The converted Boeing 747 airborne laser was a colossal failure and would have only been able to target a missile nearby in its boost/launch phase. It's now dismantled.

So to be clear, an ICBM flies at like mach 15-30. So it quickly leaves range of the 747. It was indeed scrapped, but was it? Did missile defence agency in around 2009 just decide they don't know what to do and havent done anything since?

They received 9 billion $ in 2021 and this sentence is literally all we know: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Futures_Com...

Is it simply top secret or did they utterly fail in their job?

You think you can send fighters to gun down an icbm MIRV in its re-entry phase? Seriously?

If all you have is that, like canada, then that's what you have to do. It doesn't matter how probable the success is.

peteradio2• 4 years ago

It seems like the most obvious point of interception is as the missiles are leaving the silo. In a heightened response wouldn't it be effective to maintain supersonic flight patterns within range of targets to deploy interceptors with the requisite time window?

Andrew_nenakhov3• 4 years ago

Before war started I was absolutely sure Putin is bluffing. But after listening to his TV speech, the realisation that he's delusional had creeped in, which was further strengthened when he did launch an attack.

Now, with this war going badly for Putin, with his soldiers not really willing to fight and Ukrainians resolved resistance, I am really worried he might order a launch. If someone would want the world buried with him in his tomb, it's him.

supergirl3• 4 years ago

highly unpopular opinion. NATO does have its share of blame for this escalation. they did it on purpose I would bet, to finally defeat Russia through a difficult war, without even losing 1 soldier. NATO was formed exactly for the purpose of countering the Soviet Union. Ukraine joining means rockets at small distance from Moscow. isn’t it reasonable to see it as an existential threat? it defeats the nuclear parity. US has invaded countries for much much less

Scarblac2• 4 years ago

NATO already has member countries equally close to Moscow, there was no way Ukraine was going to join any time soon, and no reason for NATO to station any missiles there when all of Russia has been in range of ICBMs fired from submarines since decades now. It's a completely made up story by Russia.

supergirl3• 4 years ago

isn’t it the case that if the enemy launches ICBM you have more time to react than if they launch short rage rockets?

briankelly• 4 years ago

Ukraine had no intention or public support to join NATO before Russia invaded and annexed Crimea [0]. Russia's actions only have proven their intentions as aggressive justifying NATO's existence.

it defeats the nuclear parity.

Ukraine gave up its nuclear armament in a peace treaty with the US and Russia. Russia is the one who violated this treaty.

isn’t it reasonable to see it as an existential threat?

Only since Putin sees all former USSR as illegitimate states and as de facto part of the Russian empire. It has nothing to do with Russia's existence, but Putin's fantasies as what he sees as Russia. The entirety of this conflict follows Russian imperialism.

All attempts to be reasonable with Putin's Russia have been mistaken - the sanctions too weak - they have only proved to be appeasements and delaying the inevitable.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine–NATO_relations

aww_dang• 4 years ago

I read this as Russia's nuclear forces going on the next highest level of alert.

They've gone from level zero preparedness to level one. What else can be expected here?

I appreciate that any threat of nuclear war is disturbing, but I don't read this as reason to head for the bunker. It isn't nuclear brinksmanship as much as an order for nuclear forces to be slightly more ready than the baseline.

If you are concerned, do the prudent thing and stock up on non-perishables. Have barterable commodities on hand. These are reasonable and non-hysterical actions which are appropriate in all situations. Taking proactive measures will reduce doomscroll induced anxiety.

tim333• 4 years ago

Apparently it was a reaction to some stuff Liz Truss, UK Foreign Secretary, said on TV. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60558048 It sounds like a bit of a misunderstanding.

Putin puts Russia’s nuclear deterrent forces on alert

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