“Russian use of nuclear weapons does not necessarily mean nuclear war”

The West is planning how to respond if Putin lives up to his threats.

This week Exactly 60 years have passed since the start of the Cuban missile crisis, the closest the world has ever come to a nuclear war.

Now many experts warn that the danger of nuclear war is the greatest since then, although the probability is still small.

The US is clear that it sees no evidence that Vladimir Putin is preparing to use nuclear weapons now. However, they take the threats of the Russian dictator seriously.

Political and military Western leaders are therefore embarking on an exercise that has remained largely uncultivated since the end of the Cold War: the preparation of scenarios on how to respond to a possible Russian use of nuclear weapons.

Three scenarios stand out, according to, among others, Richard Betts, professor of security policy at Columbia University.

Ideally, you want to avoid them all.