Nuclear War

As the war continues to get worse for Putin he keeps dropping hints that he's insane enough to go nuclear so he better get his way. Some think that this is just a ploy, but others believe that if cornered he might go for it. More context:

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-putin-nato-moscow-b7696dca6ca1d517f59179f981a57c56

What does GL make of the prospect of nuclear war? Is it all smoke and mirrors? Are you moving to the mountains and stockpiling canned tuna? Share with us how, if at all, this impacts you

They might use small tactical nukes which dont cause radioactive fallout and only affect specific areas. I doubt they use the big ones, what I'm gathering is that this isnt Putin's decision alone and several other generals/people have their own code which they all must enter for shit to pop off and Poutain's generals are not necessarily the most fond of him. And if they do, everyone will die so who cares, nothing we can do about it

Nobody wins a nuclear war right? Right?

all smoke and mirrors imo
The Elite won't let their worker slaves go to waste

if ever it happens, they might do it in some controlled manner as a form of population control

a better question to ask, a question i also asked some of my real life friends earlier this year when the war broke out...

hypothetically, if you randomly found yourself in the room with the big shiny red button to launch enough nuclear missiles to destroy the entire planet, would you do it?

Even if Russia used nukes to the point where Ukraine surrenders, there's still the question that "now what?" Russia would still need to occupy all regions they want for themselves and we're way past the point where they could install a puppet government and expect Ukrainians to obey without the threat of violence. The mad thing for Russia is that at this point even a victory would bring very little benefit to them as a country, mostly just personal benefit to Putin and his cronies.

Then there's the negatives about using nukes. A very possible military response from the USA. Even more sanctions. Very possible that all Russian-owned real estate and other property in the West gets confiscated. A lowered threshold for using nukes against Russia. More isolation and even their only important friend, China, would likely backtrack on ties.

The negatives hugely outweigh the benefits. Only Putin benefits in the sense that he could claim victory if Ukraine surrenders. It's also possible his order of a nuclear strike would not be carried out and he would be stopped by people who don't want Russia to face the sort of isolation and economic damage that would follow.