President Biden Says Nuclear Risk Higher Since the Cuban Missile Crisis

According to US President Joe Biden, the risk of a nuclear "Armageddon" is higher than it has ever been since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Mr. Biden made his remarks at the New York residence of James Murdoch, the media mogul Rupert Murdoch's son, during a Democratic fundraising event. Additionally, according to Mr. Biden, Vladimir Putin was "not joking" when he threatened to use tactical nuclear weapons after suffering setbacks in Ukraine. He added that the US was "trying to figure out" Mr. Putin's exit strategy from the war. Furthermore, the US and the EU have already stated that it is important to take Mr. Putin's nuclear saber-rattling seriously. However, Jake Sullivan, the National Security Adviser for the US, stated last week that there are no indications that Russia is getting ready to deploy a nuclear bomb in the near future despite Moscow's nuclear hints. On another note, Russia is losing territory to Ukraine, including in the four recently annexed regions. Moreover, US officials have been warning for several months that Russia might turn to the use of weapons of mass devastation if it encounters difficulties on the battlefield. On the other hand, President Biden said the reason the Russian leader had mentioned employing tactical nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons was "because his military is, you might say, significantly underperforming." "For the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis, we have a direct threat to the use of nuclear weapons, if, in fact, things continue down the path they'd been going," Mr. Biden told his fellow Democrats. "We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis," remarked Mr. Biden while noting the higher nuclear risk.

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Amidst the Ukraine-Russia war, many Russian males have started leaving the country rather than waiting for the army to draft them to fight in Ukraine. According to the BBC, Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, previously disregarded the nuclear threats from Moscow as a "constant narrative of Russian officials and propagandists." Additionally, Paul Stronski of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the BBC that Russia aims to intimidate the West with its "destabilizing rhetoric." Interestingly, in Russia itself, there has been some pushback to Moscow's nuclear threats. The leading newspaper of the nation, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, published an editorial that harshly criticized "senior Russian officials" for "talking about the nuclear button," the BBC reported. "To allow, in thoughts and words, the possibility of a nuclear conflict is a sure step to allowing it in reality," stated the publication On the other hand, speaking to reporters on Thursday, a spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry stated that Moscow's stance that nuclear war "must never be waged" remains unchanged.