This story simply brings to the fore the single thing that Trump seeks in an appointee:  Loyalty and iron-clad support of Trumpian philosophy and his un-American, anti-Constitutional goals.

The Trump cabinet and other appointees point to only one conclusion:  Utter disaster for the country, and damage to the world at large.

Good question.  Putin's occasional saber-rattling regarding the use of nukes in Ukraine leaves me uneasy, if for no other reason than I have personal loathing of the damned things.  For a spell I worked on a delivery system for ICBMs, that being the Ohio-class SSBN.  We had nothing to do with the weapons themselves; we built the things that took them to places where they could do their thing... that being launch.

One might argue that the use of "tactical" nuclear weapons is simply using something with a bigger bang.  There are conventional weapons that produce bangs not much less than artillery-fired nukes. Having said that, once "tactical" nukes are used of one scale it is easier to use intermediate-yield nukes with increasingly greater yields until one reaches the level of city-killers.  If anyone believes that global thermonuclear war is survivable and everything would be hunky-dory after the radioactive dust settles and somebody is declared the winner, know this:  There would be no winner...  Just scatterings of miserable, starving, poisoned short-term survivors.

I suggest the viewing of the movies "On The Beach" and "The Day After".

I understand that the use of nuclear weapons in WWII shortened the war and likely saved the lives not only of hordes of Allied soldiers but of Japanese civilians as well.  I also understand that had Hitler's minions developed the weapon first he likely would have killed London and won the war.  Further, I understand the the Soviets had expressed interest in nuclear weapons research and even without our proving such things were feasible would ultimately have developed the accursed things themselves.

My point is that nuclear weapons are a genie that should NEVER have been let out of the bottle... by anyone.  No other weapon has the potential to utterly destroy civilization as we know it and poison Earth for thousands of years.

Without the advent of nuclear weapons the United States would ultimately have prevailed over Japan at enormous cost.  Without the advent of nuclear weapons the United States would ultimately have gone to war with the Soviet Union in Europe, but with conventional weapons.  Without the advent of nuclear weapons Kim Jung Un would not represent the threat he does in his neck of the global woods.  Without the advent of nuclear weapons China just might be better behaved and more focused on dealing with its internal issues and less on threatening Taiwan.  Without the advent of nuclear weapons the Middle East would still be volatile, but without the threat of some of the really bad actors getting nukes and vaporizing Israel (which has its own nukes).

I hate the goddamned things.

Regarding Biden's action, I understand it but fear it at the same time.  The singer Sting has a song "I Hope The Russians Love Their Children Too".  It would seem the ball is now in Putin's court.  The man is intelligent, but he is driven by the urge to reestablish the Soviet Union.  Should Ukraine yield to him what he has currently occupied, in time the remainder of Ukraine will as well.  Then will come Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania...  he wants to be Peter The Great, the first emperor of all Russia.

I hope he loves his people's children too.

Apologies for the long retort.

I’m afraid I can’t quite unravel that sentence, Robert. Is there a typo in there, or perhaps some words missing?

Gotcha now, thanks!

One can only hope.  Getting back to my earlier screed, while war with modern conventional weapons is horrible enough they do not represent an existential threat to nearly all higher forms of life on this planet and certainly the obliteration of civilization as we know it.  While I worked in the Ohio-class SSBN program I would pray at night the things would never be called upon to perform their ultimate function... that being the launching of nuclear-tipped ICBMs.  Anyone morbidly interested in the firepower the boats carry can simply Wiki the subject.  The stuff I had access to was declassified quite some time ago.

I believe I have told the tale of my exit interview with the Head Dude of Security when I left my then-employer.  If I have not and anyone is curious I will tell a story I find amusing.

I'd like to hear it.

Good grief.  I take it you survived.

I remember my Army training.  The drill Sgt advised us that in the event of nuclear combat, a bright white cloud might be visible before the sound or force of the any explosion could be heard or felt.  In that case, the best action to take was to very quickly turn away, spread your feet apart, bend at the waist and kiss your ass goodbye.

I'd like to hear it Robert. Thanks