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George W. Bush Slams Putin For Illegal Invasion; Twitter Reacts

After George W. Bush slammed Vladimir Putin for illegally invading a country, Twitter users who weren’t born yesterday had some choice reactions.
“Russia’s attack on Ukraine constitutes the gravest security crisis on the European continent since World War II. I join the international community in condemning Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine,” said Bush in a statement.
“We cannot tolerate the authoritarian bullying and danger that Putin poses,” he added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="10.541547277937">
NEW: Former Pres. George W. Bush condemns Russia’s attack on Ukraine, calling it the “gravest security crisis on the European continent since World War II.”
“We cannot tolerate the authoritarian bullying and danger that Putin poses.” <a href="https://t.co/itq8dmOlyA">https://t.co/itq8dmOlyA</a> <a href="https://t.co/LLbMDDlLbg">pic.twitter.com/LLbMDDlLbg</a>
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) <a href="https://twitter.com/ABCPolitics/status/1496846064023834630?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a>
</blockquote>
For anyone who has no memory or is unable to perform a basic Google search, Bush was president when America illegally invaded Iraq on the pretext of finding “weapons of mass destruction” that never existed.
As well as claiming the lives of thousands of U.S. troops, the attack killed at least hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and led to the generational destabilization of the entire region.
That attack was also justified by erroneous claims that Saddam Hussein had links to Al-Qaeda and the 9/11 atrocity, something else that was completely invented by U.S. intelligence services.
Twitter users reacted with more than an ounce of skepticism towards Bush denouncing an ‘illegal invasion’ when his administration set the benchmark for illegal invasions.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="6.5531914893617">
He's an expert on illegal invasions
— Antonio Instagramsci (@FredYeetzche) <a href="https://twitter.com/FredYeetzche/status/1496903647254355980?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="10.113744075829">
Bush can shut the fuck up. Him talking is only going to be a way for the Russians to say “We’re just doing what you did and imposing regime change.”
— Sun, Fun, Cthulhu (@AmericanRando) <a href="https://twitter.com/AmericanRando/status/1496919648536870919?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="6.912">
well if anyone knows about lying your way into an unjust war it's this guy
— Simon Girthy (@daggerandpen) <a href="https://twitter.com/daggerandpen/status/1496888012810117127?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="7.1807228915663">
He’s certainly an expert in unsanctioned invasions of sovereign countries.
— Twin Cities Educator Union Supporter named Pancho (@ViewlessJargon) <a href="https://twitter.com/ViewlessJargon/status/1496898544690769921?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="6.7747747747748">
"We asked a war criminal what he thinks about current events."
— Jacob Ritter (@Mornscreek) <a href="https://twitter.com/Mornscreek/status/1497271929295847426?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 25, 2022</a>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="4.6216216216216">
Pot, kettle.
— Janus Tiresias🕊🍀 (@JanusTiresias) <a href="https://twitter.com/JanusTiresias/status/1496951807855104004?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="6.5684210526316">
Says the man who reduced Iraq to ashes 🤦‍♂️
— Yhakubu (@iamfelixg) <a href="https://twitter.com/iamfelixg/status/1497219711716704263?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 25, 2022</a>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="8.3">
Yet, in many ways, Bush's war in Iraq set the template.
— Damola O (@dlitetweet) <a href="https://twitter.com/dlitetweet/status/1496860662718476295?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="6.9925925925926">
guy that invaded country and kills 600k people tells Russia not to invade country
— Fierce Vinegar (@FierceVinegar) <a href="https://twitter.com/FierceVinegar/status/1497165068420669440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 25, 2022</a>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="4.6274509803922">
<a href="https://t.co/7zqdPN8rUU">pic.twitter.com/7zqdPN8rUU</a>
— jaxxstrology🦄 🥳🐱🌈💉🌻 (@jaxxstrology) <a href="https://twitter.com/jaxxstrology/status/1497048914087849984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 25, 2022</a>
</blockquote>
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source <a href="https://summit.news/2022/02/25/george-w-bush-slams-putin-for-illegal-invasion-twitter-reacts/">https://summit.news/2022/02/25/george-w-bush-slams-putin-for-illegal-invasion-twitter-reacts/</a>

revolution summit George W. Bush Slams Putin For Illegal Invasion; Twitter Reacts

After George W. Bush slammed Vladimir Putin for illegally invading a country, Twitter users who weren’t born yesterday had some choice react...

Is the cyberwar coming or is it already here?

<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/d9bSujTImePm3TGqAohV_ZTRU5I=/0x395:4841x2930/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23271634/GettyImages_1238495396.jpg" /></div>
As Russia’s tanks rolled into Ukraine and its missiles struck targets across the country, its hackers launched waves of cyberattacks. In the weeks and days leading up to the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/23/22948534/russia-ukraine-war-putin-explosions-invasion-explained">Russian invasion</a>, Ukrainian websites were <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/01/19/1074172805/more-than-70-ukrainian-government-websites-have-been-defaced-in-cyber-attacks">defaced</a> and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/23/cyberattack-hits-ukrainian-banks-and-government-websites.html">taken offline</a>, and data-wiping malware was <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-60500618">unleashed</a> on government systems. And while the physical attack may have been a surprise to most, the virtual attack was not: Russia has used its cyberweapons against Ukraine for years. Now, the question for some is whether Russia will turn its cyberweapons toward the US and how the US would respond.
According to President Biden’s address on Thursday afternoon, the US can and will launch cyberattacks on Russia — but only if Russia attacks the US first.
“If Russia pursues cyberattacks against our companies, our critical infrastructure, we’re prepared to respond,” Biden said, adding that the government has been working with the private sector “for months” to prepare for Russian cyberattacks and responses to them.
Biden’s comments suggest that the White House is keen to frame any possible American cyberattacks on Russia as retaliation for Russia attacking the US first, and not as a preemptive move by the US or a retaliation for Russia’s attack on Ukraine. This sentiment was also expressed when the administration pushed back on <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/biden-presented-options-massive-cyberattacks-russia-rcna17558">an NBC report</a> claiming that, even if Russia didn’t attack first, Biden had been presented with options for using US cyberweapons against it “on a scale never before contemplated.” Press secretary Jen Psaki <a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/1496919281535111211">tweeted</a> that the report was “off base” and “does not reflect what is actually being discussed in any shape or form.”
While a Russian cyberattack on Ukraine’s infrastructure is very possible — it has happened before — it’s less clear that this will happen to the US. While many countries have cyberweapons, few admit to using them, the US included. America is <a href="https://www.iiss.org/blogs/research-paper/2021/06/cyber-capabilities-national-power">believed to be</a> the most powerful country in the world in terms of cyber capabilities, but, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/how-cyber-weapons-are-changing-the-landscape-of-modern-warfare">for the most part</a>, it keeps its capabilities top-secret, though it has <a href="https://media.defense.gov/2018/Sep/18/2002041658/-1/-1/1/CYBER_STRATEGY_SUMMARY_FINAL.PDF">acknowledged</a> that they exist. While we know the US has cyberweapons, we know far less about what they are, what they have access to, and what kind of damage they can do if deployed as a weapon of war.
“Nation-states including the United States engage in intelligence-gathering operations in cyberspace, but no one has declared that activity an all-out cyberwar,” James Turgal, vice president of cyber risk, strategy, and board relations at cybersecurity firm Optiv, told Recode. “However, we are in a new era with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
Experts say the US has almost certainly prepared for the increased chance of a cyberattack from Russia.
“In reality, it would be a surprise if the US defensive postures weren’t already in place,” Purandar Das, CEO of Sotero, a data security software company, said. “The government has in all likelihood deployed their defense mechanisms.”
George Perera, the associate director of cybersecurity law at St. Thomas University, said that a cyberattack from Russia would likely target critical infrastructure, and, if successful, “could be devastating.”
“Potentially you could lose clean water, electricity, financial markets, to name a few,” Perera explained. Importantly, he added that the likelihood of a successful attack on the US was “minimal,” thanks to the US’s defensive capabilities.
But some warned that the private sector especially may not be sufficiently prepared, even as many companies have scrambled in recent years to better protect against cyberattacks.
“The growth in ransomware and attacks over the past decade should have put private and public entities on alert to revamp their security postures, deploy new layers and tools, train staff, and continually improve their processes,” Ryan Golden, cybersecurity expert and chief marketing officer at Halcyon, which makes anti-ransomware software, said. “Unfortunately, cybersecurity programs are still viewed as a line item on a budget sheet, leaving many organizations and institutions vulnerable to disruption.”
Russia — both officially and through cybercriminals doing its bidding — has a long history of using cyberweapons against perceived enemies, including the US. Significant Russia-linked cyberattacks on the US in recent memory include the <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/12/14/22174314/government-hack-solarwinds-cozybear-russia">SolarWinds hack</a>, first discovered in late 2020, and a slew of high-profile ransomware attacks, including last year’s attack on the <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22527272/ransomware-cyberattacks-bitcoin-explained">Colonial oil pipeline</a>. The former, which led to the infiltration of several US government agencies along with about a hundred companies, was attributed to Russia’s intelligence service. The latter, which took a pipeline that transports half of the East Coast’s gasoline offline for several days, was attributed to Russia-based criminal organizations, likely operating with the Russian government’s knowledge and approval.
Putin denied that Russia had any part in either incident, and the Russian embassy has <a href="https://www.facebook.com/RusEmbUSA/posts/1488755328001519">previously said</a> it “doesn’t conduct operations in the cyber domain.” But the Biden administration cited the SolarWinds hack as one of the reasons for economic sanctions against Russia <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/15/fact-sheet-imposing-costs-for-harmful-foreign-activities-by-the-russian-government/">last April</a>, and the president said last June that, a few weeks after the Colonial Pipeline attack, he told Putin there would be “consequences” if ransomware attacks on the US continued.
“Russia has managed to evade much of the responsibility for cyberattacks,” Josef Schroefl, deputy director of strategy and defense at the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, said. “In conventional warfare, attribution is usually straightforward. But in cyberspace it is very complex, and can be time-consuming and costly.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine has for years been under near-constant threat of cyberattacks from Russia. The country’s power grid was attacked in <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38573074">2015 and 2016</a> and is <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/19/despite-years-of-preparation-ukraines-electric-grid-still-far-from-ready-for-russian-hackers-00010373">reportedly</a> still vulnerable today. Malware called <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russian-military-was-behind-notpetya-cyberattack-in-ukraine-cia-concludes/2018/01/12/048d8506-f7ca-11e7-b34a-b85626af34ef_story.html">NotPetya</a> was unleashed on Ukraine’s financial sector in 2017 and ended up spreading to millions of computers all over the world, doing <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/techstream/how-the-notpetya-attack-is-reshaping-cyber-insurance/">billions of dollars in damage</a>. In October 2020, the US <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/six-russian-gru-officers-charged-connection-worldwide-deployment-destructive-malware-and">charged</a> several Russian intelligence officers for their alleged involvement in the development of NotPetya and hacking attacks on Ukraine’s power grid.
For its part, the United States has also been caught using cyberweapons a few times. It, in coordination with Israel, is believed to be behind <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/stuxnet-was-work-of-us-and-israeli-experts-officials-say/2012/06/01/gJQAlnEy6U_story.html">Stuxnet</a>, a virus that targeted Iran’s nuclear program. Neither country has ever admitted to this.
As for Ukraine, Das said he believes it will carry out its own attacks on Russia — “Ukraine is already a hotbed of technical activity, and they have the skills” — although the US might help with intelligence. Schroefl said Ukraine has “expanded and greatly improved its capabilities” to defend against cyberattacks in the last few years, with the help of European Union countries and Israel. “But principally, Ukraine still needs support, especially in securing its command and control systems as well as critical infrastructure.”
It appears that Ukraine is also getting some help from hackers that aren’t affiliated with any state: It reportedly appealed to its “hacker underground,” as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/exclusive-ukraine-calls-hacker-underground-defend-against-russia-2022-02-24/">Reuters called it</a>, to help protect Ukrainian infrastructure and to spy on the Russian military. The hacker collective known as Anonymous <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/anonymous-hackers-claim-responsibility-for-cyberattacks-against-russian-state-news-site-rtcom">claimed</a> on Thursday night that it was behind a DDoS attack that took down Russian state-sponsored news site RT. On the Russian side, one prominent ransomware gang has <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3vxnm/russian-ransomware-gang-says-it-will-support-russian-government">pledged its loyalty</a> to Russia.
Karen Walsh, CEO of Allegro Solutions, noted that it’s likely the US is already engaging in some kind of offensive cyber operations. It’s also likely that we won’t know any or all of the US’s actions for a long time to come. The US government <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11718">has said</a> that Russia’s cyberattacks can be “brazen and aggressive operations, sometimes with questionable levels of operational security and secrecy.” The United States, on the other hand, has been much more secretive about any of its cyberattacks, to the point that we rarely know it’s doing anything at all.
“Until classified documents are unclassified 50 years from now, we’ll never know the full extent of our offensive cyber operations,” Walsh said. “Hopefully, any US cyberwarfare will remain targeted toward Russian military capabilities and limit the impact on the everyday Russian citizen.”
Russia’s attacks on Ukraine in the real world and in cyberspace have, so far, followed known tactics that we’ve seen before. An all-out cyberwar — one that would include hugely disruptive, dangerous, and high-profile attacks on critical infrastructure and weapons systems — hasn’t happened yet. But it’s looking more likely than ever that such a war could be here soon.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22950633/cyberattacks-russia-ukraine-us-cyberwar">https://www.vox.com/recode/22950633/cyberattacks-russia-ukraine-us-cyberwar</a>

vox Is the cyberwar coming or is it already here?

As Russia’s tanks rolled into Ukraine and its missiles struck targets across the country, its hackers launched waves of cyberattacks. In th...

How to think about the risk of nuclear war, according to 3 experts

<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/pdsm0GpRfbLXYG8x5P5yNhXpI10=/0x0:5390x2822/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23271283/GettyImages_1238593932.jpg" /></div>
When Russian President Vladimir <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/23/22948534/russia-ukraine-war-putin-explosions-invasion-explained">Putin announced his invasion of Ukraine</a> on February 24, he also made a more nebulous threat: “No matter who tries to stand in our way or … create threats for our country and our people, they must know that Russia will respond immediately, and the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history.”
<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-vladimir-putin-europe-poland-nuclear-weapons-2503c0d7696a57db4f437c90d3894b18">Another part of his speech</a> seemed to make his meaning clear. “Today’s Russia remains one of the most powerful nuclear states,” Putin said. As justification for the invasion, Putin also made unfounded claims that Ukraine was on a path to build its own nuclear arsenal. “There’s no evidence of that at all,” said <a href="https://fas.org/expert/hans-kristensen/">Hans Kristensen</a>, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists.
<a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/23/22948534/russia-ukraine-war-putin-explosions-invasion-explained">The Russian invasion</a> has relied entirely on conventional weapons — tanks rattling down highways, bombers flying overhead, ships landing in the port city of Odesa — and experts told Vox that in the absence of a shocking escalation, that isn’t likely to change.
Still, Putin’s remarks were a stark reminder that nuclear weapons aren’t just the boogeymen of a bygone age, but remain a key part of the security order that emerged after the end of World War II. By Kristensen’s count, Russia has about 6,000 nuclear weapons and the United States has about 5,500. Either nuclear arsenal is <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2018/10/19/17873822/nuclear-war-weapons-bombs-how-kill">large enough to kill billions of people</a> — but also to serve as a deterrent against attack.
In recent decades, the so-called nuclear order has remained fairly stable. The <a href="https://fas.org/issues/nuclear-weapons/status-world-nuclear-forces/">seven other countries</a> known to have nuclear weapons have much smaller arsenals. Most countries in the world have signed onto the <a href="https://www.nti.org/education-center/treaties-and-regimes/treaty-on-the-non-proliferation-of-nuclear-weapons/">Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons</a> (NPT), which limits the development of nuclear weapons. We asked three researchers of nuclear arms control about the risks the world faces now and what we might be able to do about them.
While Putin’s remarks are certainly cause for concern — especially since they introduced the largest military operation in Europe since the Second World War — the scholars who spoke to Vox said a nuclear strike is still unlikely. “I think there is virtually no chance nuclear weapons are going to be used in the Ukraine situation,” said <a href="https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/matthew-bunn">Matthew Bunn</a>, a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and former adviser to President Bill Clinton’s Office of Science and Technology Policy.
The main reason, Bunn said, is that the United States and its NATO allies have made it clear that they will <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/2/25/22949351/ukraine-russia-us-troops-no-fly-zone-nuclear-weapons">not send troops to Ukraine</a>. Without the threat of military intervention, Putin has little reason to use his nuclear weapons, especially since Russia has a staggering numbers advantage over the Ukrainian military.
“His objective is not to bring the world to nuclear war,” said <a href="https://www.bu.edu/pardeeschool/profile/paul-webster-hare/">Paul Hare</a>, senior lecturer in global studies at Boston University. “His objective is to simply swallow Ukraine — and restore not just the [power of the] Soviet Union, but the Tsarist empire.”
Still, said Kristensen, “I’m more worried than I was a week ago.” He pointed out that NATO <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_192404.htm?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=smc&amp;utm_id=220224+ukraine+nac+statement">increased</a> its readiness levels for “all contingencies” in response to Putin’s speech, and with increased military buildup comes increased uncertainty. “That’s the fog of war, so to speak,” Kristensen said. “Out of that can come twists and turns that take you down a path that you couldn’t predict a week ago.”
Russia’s roughly 6,000 warheads make it the country with the largest nuclear arsenal. Kristensen said most of those warheads are in reserves, with only about 1,600 deployed as land, sea, and air-based weapons, such as missiles in silos or bombs dropped by planes. (When the USSR fell apart at the end of the Cold War, there were nuclear weapons left behind on Ukrainian soil, but Ukraine <a href="https://twitter.com/nukestrat/status/1495925696056766467?s=20&t=dpW-MNbLS1mkHnNjFLIOdw">returned</a> them to Russia.)
The countries known to have nuclear weapons are Russia, the US, China, France, the UK, Pakistan, India, Israel, and North Korea. That includes every permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, which have been working to modernize their nuclear weapons over the past few decades, and three members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The <a href="https://fas.org/issues/nuclear-weapons/status-world-nuclear-forces/">total number of weapons</a> has dropped by about 80 percent since the end of the Cold War, from an estimated 70,300 in 1986 to 12,700 in early 2022.
That’s still a lot of nukes. “There has been much discussion about whether that means Russia has a sort of trigger-happy nuclear posture,” Kristensen said. “It’s hard to pin down. if Russian officials were asked to sit down around a table and entirely consider how many tactical nuclear weapons were needed, purely based on real, strategic rationales, I suspect that number would quickly drop to a lot less [than what it is today].”
From a strategic standpoint, the experts said, there’s no reason for Russia to use nuclear weapons. But they said Putin himself was the biggest source of uncertainty. “The element of emotion and anger that’s crept into Putin’s statements in particular is striking,” said Hare. “Normally we’ve associated Russia’s diplomatic style with a kind of laconic, almost sarcastic manner.”
It’s worth remembering, Kristensen added, that Putin often makes allusions to Russia’s nuclear arsenal as a show of strength. In 2015, he <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2015/03/16/europe/russia-putin-crimea-nuclear/index.html">said in</a> a Russian state TV documentary that he had considered putting Russian nuclear forces on alert during the Russian annexation of Crimea a year prior.
This could be a sign that Putin’s nuclear rhetoric is more bark than bite, but Kristensen wasn’t ready to say that for sure. “He lives in a very small bubble, and he’s deeply paranoid,” Kristensen said. “He’s willing to do really not very rational things.”
“The physical fact of a nuclear weapon’s destructive power absolutely creates fear,” said Bunn. Nuclear deterrence — the idea that one country wouldn’t dare attack another for fear of a nuclear strike — was the major security policy of the Cold War period, and experts say it remains very much alive today. As my <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/2/25/22949351/ukraine-russia-us-troops-no-fly-zone-nuclear-weapons">colleague Zack Beauchamp recently wrote</a>, the threat of nuclear weapons is the reason the US won’t send troops to Ukraine.
But nuclear deterrence clearly didn’t end all wars. The existence of nuclear weapons “didn’t help us in Vietnam, they didn’t help us in Iraq, they didn’t help us in Afghanistan,” Bunn said. “Nuclear weapons aren’t useful for the majority of the security and well-being challenges that the United States faces.”
Since the Cold War, it’s been widely accepted that nuclear deterrence would help ensure that the borders of Europe would not be challenged. The Ukraine crisis, said Hare, is casting some doubt on that idea. “The credibility of deterrence hasn’t been tested for decades,” Hare said. “The whole international order is sort of being thrown up in the air. Is the Ukraine attack going to be a prelude to an attack on, say, the Baltic states that are even more vulnerable, or is Putin going to be satisfied with Ukraine?”
The answer, Hare said, will shape how the United States and its NATO allies decide to deploy their forces — conventional and nuclear — around the world. “We’re starting to see large powers begin to sort of entertain the thought of limited tactical nuclear weapons use scenarios, in a way that they didn’t spend very much time thinking about 10 years ago,” said Kristensen. These are the sorts of unlikely scenarios that have been tossed around in war games as contingencies since the Cold War, and could entail strikes on isolated military targets that are far from population centers, for example.
“The theory is very much like it was during the Cold War,” Kristensen explained. “You just sort of have some smaller nukes that you can pop off here and there, to force an adversary to take an off-ramp during a conflict.”
For the most part, global efforts to prevent nuclear weapons from spreading, like the Non-Proliferation Treaty, have been strikingly successful. But these efforts need constant attention and maintenance. “Globally, the nuclear order is in pretty bad shape,” said Bunn. North Korea continues to build up its nuclear arsenal, India and Pakistan appear to be engaging in an arms race to build up short-range tactical nuclear weapons, and hostility is ratcheting up between the US, Russia, and China.
“People should pay attention,” said Kristensen. “They have to be vigilant about holding their governments accountable, and make sure that the policies that are in place and the way they’re implemented are constructive, that they actually lead to improving the situation rather than making it worse.” A <a href="https://www.state.gov/new-start/">key US-Russia agreement</a> to limit nuclear-armed missiles, known as the New START Treaty, is set to expire in February 2026, and the degraded relations between the United States and Russia will make negotiating a renewal much harder.
“The huge increase in US-Russian hostility will lead to increased risks of conflict and make it more difficult to work with Russia,” Bunn said. “Whether it’s working to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons to other countries or improving security for nuclear weapons and materials and facilities, all of that goes better if the United States and Russia are working together. And they’re not going to be doing that for some time to come.”
There is some good news, Bunn said. There are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/02/23/iran-us-nuclear-deal/">promising signs</a> for the reinstatement of the Iran nuclear deal, which would affirm the principles of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. “It’s important to remember that only 5 percent of the countries in the world have nuclear weapons,” Bunn said. “Every other state has pledged to never develop nuclear weapons.”
For decades, Bunn added, about one in every 10 US lightbulbs was <a href="https://www.npr.org/2013/12/11/250007526/megatons-to-megawatts-russian-warheads-fuel-u-s-power-plants#:~:text=Megatons%20To%20Megawatts%3A%20Russian%20Warheads%20Fuel%20U.S.%20Power%20Plants%20Once,fuel%20for%20U.S.%20power%20plants.">powered</a> by uranium from decommissioned Russian warheads, which was sent to American nuclear power plants — a reminder that the world actively worked together to turn a tool of destruction into a force for good. “That’s remarkable,” Bunn said. “It’s never been true before in human history that the most powerful weapon available to our species was widely forsworn.”
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/22951004/nuclear-weapons-russia-ukraine-war-putin">https://www.vox.com/22951004/nuclear-weapons-russia-ukraine-war-putin</a>

vox How to think about the risk of nuclear war, according to 3 experts

When Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his invasion of Ukraine on February 24, he also made a more nebulous threat: “No matter wh...

Exclusive: Russian Troops Show Off Dead Ukranians Like Trophies

Pro-Russian separatists from the Donbas region show a news crew a group of Ukrainian soldiers they recently killed using a tank.
WARNING: This video contains extremely graphic footage. Viewer discretion strongly advised.
They show the Ukrainian soldiers have NATO issued boots. They do not express joy in killing these soldiers, but show their commitment to leaving Ukraine.
The captured soldiers claim they are new and their commanders sent them to clear dead bodies.
Also watch: <a href="https://banned.video/watch?id=62195e0704460228fca32a07">Breaking! Urban Warfare Footage Pours Out Of Ukraine</a>
And check out: <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://banned.video/watch?id=621933db04460228fca26dfd" target="_blank">The Battle For Kyiv</a>
<div class="fB3FhD84"><a href="https://www.infowarsstore.com/specials-clearance/top-selling-products-sale?ims=nhapy&utm_campaign=topsellingproducts&utm_source=Infowars+Hero&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=topsellingproductshero" target="_blank"><img src="https://api.directus.libertycdn.com/uploads/_/originals/TSP-hero-385.jpg" /></a></div>
 
 
source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/exclusive-pro-russian-separatists-showoff-dead-ukranians-like-trophies">https://www.infowars.com/posts/exclusive-pro-russian-separatists-showoff-dead-ukranians-like-trophies</a>

news Exclusive: Russian Troops Show Off Dead Ukranians Like Trophies

Pro-Russian separatists from the Donbas region show a news crew a group of Ukrainian soldiers they recently killed using a tank. WARNING: T...

Democrat Polling Firm Suggests Dem Candidates Declare Covid Over

Democrat candidates running for office should take credit for ending the Covid-19 crisis, an internal memo circulated by left-leaning political strategists advises.
In a Thursday memo titled, “Taking the Win over COVID-19,” first published at <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://punchbowl.news/impact-covid-positioning-strategy-memo/" target="_blank">punchbowl.news</a>, consultants for the Democrat polling and strategy firm <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://impactresearch.com/" target="_blank">Impact Research</a> encouraged Dems to distance themselves from increasingly unpopular Covid restrictions.
“Declare the crisis phase of Covid over and push for feeling and acting more normal,” the letter recommends.
“Because of President Biden and Democrats, we CAN safely return to life feeling much more normal – and they should claim that proudly,” the memo advises candidates.
Another bullet point tip for aspiring Democrat politicians also recommends sympathizing with voters’ feelings of being “worn out” by the lockdowns and Covid restrictions, which ironically were largely imposed by Democrats.
“Six in ten Americans describe themselves as ‘worn out’ by the pandemic. The more we talk about the threat of COVID and onerously restrict people’s lives because of it, the more we turn them against us and show them we’re out of touch with their daily realities,” the memo reads.
On its website, the polling firm <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://impactresearch.com/clients/" target="_blank">boasts</a> about its work with Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, as well as other prominent party leaders.
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img alt="" class="wp-image-161637" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" src="https://api-assets.infowars.com/2022/02/impactresearch23.jpg" srcset="https://api-assets.infowars.com/2022/02/impactresearch23-300x139.jpg 300w, https://api-assets.infowars.com/2022/02/impactresearch23-768x356.jpg 768w, https://api-assets.infowars.com/2022/02/impactresearch23.jpg 800w" /></figure>
The memo confirms that, going into the 2022 midterms, Democrats now view Covid restrictions that destroyed the US economy such as lockdowns, travel bans and mask mandates as toxic issues that are a political liability.
<div class="V6xzRmoS"><a href="https://www.infowarsstore.com/specials-clearance/top-selling-products-sale?ims=nhapy&utm_campaign=topsellingproducts&utm_source=Infowars+Hero&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=topsellingproductshero" target="_blank"><img src="https://api.directus.libertycdn.com/uploads/_/originals/TSP-hero-385.jpg" /></a></div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" readability="5.6740088105727">
For the record, the science didn’t change. However, the polling and recommendations from Biden’s political consultants did. <a href="https://t.co/I1IfF5jUwb">https://t.co/I1IfF5jUwb</a> <a href="https://t.co/FFoJbGAowT">pic.twitter.com/FFoJbGAowT</a>
— Ben Brown (@BenBrownTweets) <a href="https://twitter.com/BenBrownTweets/status/1497319366119071755?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 25, 2022</a></blockquote>
The recommendations interestingly come as the CDC on Friday <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/cdc-eases-masking-recommendations-70-country-including-inside/story?id=83111596" target="_blank">released new guidance</a> declaring an end to mask rules for 70% of the country, including for schoolchildren.
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WATCH: <a href="https://banned.video/watch?id=62094c6a9c585d01da41524b">Alex Jones Predicts Lockdowns Will Loosen, Then TIGHTEN Again</a>
<hr class="wp-block-separator" />
 
 
source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/internal-memo-suggests-dems-declare-covid-over">https://www.infowars.com/posts/internal-memo-suggests-dems-declare-covid-over</a>

news Democrat Polling Firm Suggests Dem Candidates Declare Covid Over

Democrat candidates running for office should take credit for ending the Covid-19 crisis, an internal memo circulated by left-leaning politi...

Warning: Major Cyber Attack Next!

<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://api-assets.infowars.com/2022/02/2-25-22-warning.jpg" /></div>
A terrifying warning from the World Economic Forum. Are you ready?
“Pay insufficient attention, to the frightening scenario of a comprehensive cyber attack, which would bring a complete halt to the power supply, transportation, hospital services, our society as a whole. The COVID-19 crisis would be seen in this respect as a small disturbance in comparison to a major cyber attack.” – WEF founder Klaus Schwab
Adapted from the original great edit by <a rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.instagram.com/eastern.freedom/">https://www.instagram.com/eastern.freedom/</a>
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source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/warning-major-cyber-attack-next">https://www.infowars.com/posts/warning-major-cyber-attack-next</a>

news Warning: Major Cyber Attack Next!

A terrifying warning from the World Economic Forum. Are you ready? “Pay insufficient attention, to the frightening scenario of a comprehen...