Between Nov. 9, 1989, and Dec. 26, 1991, the Berlin wall toppled, the iron curtain was lifted, and the Soviet Union ceased to exist. In just a little more than two years, the Cold War came to an end and the daily threat of nuclear war dissipated. For the past 31 years we have slowly forgotten our fears and the real possibilities of nuclear Armageddon.
This all changed on Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022, when the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin justified his war by saying it is a “special military operation to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine” and to prevent a genocide against ethnic Russians in the Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk. Just two days later, Putin placed his nuclear forces on high alert and threatened that any nation that interfered with his actions against Ukraine would face “consequences they have never seen.”
A new nuclear red line has been drawn by the autocrat Putin. Most of the world sees the Russian invasion of Ukraine as unjustified and horrific. Many want to help Ukraine remain independent, but they realize any direct confrontation of nuclear powers could lead to an escalation and the end of the world as we know it.
Both Pope Francis and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have recently commented on the increased threat of nuclear war. On March 14, the UN Secretary-General stated, “Nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, is now back within the realm of possibility.” A few days later, the Pope commented, “Our imagination appears increasingly concentrated on the representation of a final catastrophe that will extinguish us … such as that which would happen with an eventual atomic war.”
Not since the Cold War, have we felt this overwhelming dread of a possible nuclear holocaust. According to the Federation of American Scientists, Russia has the largest stockpile of atomic weapons in the world with 5,977. The United States has 5,428 such weapons with the United Kingdom having 225 and France having 290. That means NATO has 5,933 nuclear weapons at its disposal.
The old doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) has come back to the world forefront. Basically, MAD prevents all out warfare between two or more nuclear nations because each side would be wiped out in an atomic confrontation. Having nuclear weapons, oddly enough, prevents WWIII from occurring.
However, the world is in real danger now because it is becoming difficult to see where Putin has drawn his nuclear red line. If NATO aids Ukraine too much an escalation could occur to nuclear war. But what is too much aid?
Apparently, it is all right to allow some 16,000 to 20,000 volunteer foreign fighters from Europe, America and elsewhere to join the Ukrainian war efforts. It also seems acceptable to place incredibly severe economic sanctions on Russia to force it to withdraw from Ukraine. Finally, it also seems “safe” to send Ukraine billions of dollars of conventional weapons to defend against the invading Russian military.
NATO is sending in additional troops into Eastern European nations that are members of the alliance including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. It wants to send a message to Putin that they have a nuclear red line as well. If Russian forces attack one of these nations, NATO will defend them.
With such heightened tensions between NATO and Russia, a miscalculation by either side could trigger a direct confrontation and escalation to World War III.
We no longer train our students to duck under their desks or to hide in fallout shelters, but we still live under the daily threat of destroying ourselves. At times we forget how close we are to our own demise. The Russo-Ukrainian War has brought back the terror of a possible nuclear apocalypse front and center.
Dave Berger of Maple Grove, Minnesota, is a retired sociology professor who taught for nearly thirty seven years. He is now a freelance writer and author.
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