Biden criticized for the nuclear armageddon comment.

[Septua]

I tend to agree with him.

Biden’s remarks, at a fundraising event in New York, could open him to criticism by political opponents that he is speaking in an inartful way about nuclear war – and at a political fundraiser of all places. But they are paradoxically also a little reassuring because they reveal a president who is deeply conscious of the risks of escalation with the volatile Kremlin leader.

But Biden’s comments also show that, in one way at least, Putin’s nuclear threats have worked: They have left his adversaries unsure how he might behave.

Biden told Democratic donors that the world had arrived at a dangerous moment.

“(For the) first time since the Cuban missile crisis, we have a direct threat of the use (of a) nuclear weapon if, in fact, things continue down the path they are going,” Biden said.

“We’ve got a guy I know fairly well,” Biden said of Putin.

“He’s not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons because his military is, you might say, significantly underperforming.”

US officials are concerned that Putin might consider the use of a smaller tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine in a desperate attempt to turn the course of the war. The White House says it has warned the Kremlin that such a decision would be “catastrophic” for Russia but has not said publicly exactly how they would respond – though there is speculation NATO might get involved and directly target Russian forces, a scenario that could lead to a dangerous escalation with Moscow.

With that in mind, Biden appeared to be making an argument, which Putin will now be sure to hear about, that the idea that the use of a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine could be contained and not lead to a wider conflagration is wrong.

The entire strategic logic between maintaining nuclear weapons for self-defense is that they are too terrible to be used, and any nation that did would be writing their own death warrant.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/07/politics/joe-biden-vladimir-putin-armageddon-analysis