On February 27, deputy director of the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Matthew Kroenig was quoted in an article in the New York Times titled “Putin Declares a Nuclear Alert, and Biden Seeks De-escalation.” Kroenig points out that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s heightened nuclear alert is just one of multiple historical examples of leaders threatening nuclear retaliation, including former President Trump. However, Kroenig asserts that leaders will not follow through because it threatens their extinction.
Nuclear-armed states can’t fight nuclear wars because it would risk their extinction, but they can and do threaten it.
Matthew Kroenig
Forward Defense leads the Atlantic Council’s US and global defense programming, developing actionable recommendations for the United States and its allies and partners to compete, innovate, and navigate the rapidly evolving character of warfare. Through its work on US defense policy and force design, the military applications of advanced technology, space security, strategic deterrence, and defense industrial revitalization, it informs the strategies, policies, and capabilities that the United States will need to deter, and, if necessary, prevail in major-power conflict.
