Russia is threatening to end nuclear arms control. But its president, Vladimir Putin, has become the boy who cried wolf. So many political analysts are dismissing this as just another idle threat.
I disagree.
Nuclear arms control
Putin is establishing a pretext to honor Russia’s quid pro quo with Iran. Because I suspect Russia struck a Faustian bargain with Iran.
It calls for Iran to supply kamikaze drones to help Russia exterminate Ukraine. And for Russia to supply nuclear weapons to help Iran wipe Israel off the map.
Russia told the United States on Monday that the last remaining pillar of bilateral nuclear arms control could expire in 2026 without a replacement due to what it said were U.S. efforts to inflict ‘strategic defeat’ on Moscow in Ukraine.
(Reuters, January 30, 2023)
Of course, the US is only supplying conventional weapons to Ukraine. And it’s only doing so to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s genocidal onslaught.
Yet Russia claims efforts to stop Ukraine’s aggression will force it to end nuclear arms control. That’s patently specious. But Russia also claimed de-Nazifying Ukraine forced it to launch its invasion. So this latest claim is wholly consistent.
Russia would trigger nuclear war before suffering “strategic defeat”
Putin is a congenital gaslighter. But he also can’t help projecting his real intent and abiding guilt.
In this case, he sees the writing on the wall. Russia is heading for a “strategic defeat.” But Putin fears his strongman reputation, and even his life, would never survive that. And the only way to avoid that day of reckoning is to create a nuclear crisis.
What this means for Israel
Only a cornered Putin would dare attempt to deliver nuclear weapons to Iran. After all, that would make the Cuban Missile Crisis look like a tempest in a teapot. Not least because it would pose an existential threat to Israel.
Indeed, Israel’s Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef famously set the moral precedent. He do so when he declared that Israel had a moral obligation to destroy Syria’s nuclear reactor. I submit that Israel would have an even greater moral obligation to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities.
It’s one thing for Iran to join the axis of autocracies (headed by Russia and China). It’s quite another for this to include empowering Iran with nukes.
Whatever the case, Russia’s threat to end nuclear arms control vindicates my take. Because I argued that Israel should support Ukraine – if only to help itself.
And I am heartened that Israel has finally demonstrated its intent to do just that. It did so with strikes on a production hub for drones and missiles in Iran on Saturday.
Still, I urge it to stop hedging and join the alliance of democracies. It must honor its categorical imperative to help Ukraine defeat Russia and its axis of autocracies.
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