President Putin would have the power to launch nuclear first strikes under plans approved by the Russian parliament.
Senators in the Federation Council, the upper house, have recommended tearing up the military doctrine that forbids initial use of weapons of mass destruction. It comes after Mr Putin said that Moscow would retaliate if the United States withdrew from a landmark Cold War missile treaty.
The revision would allow the president to order nuclear strikes in response to enemy use of conventional weapons, a significant departure from the military doctrine that prohibits first use unless Russia is threatened by weapons of mass destruction or if its “very existence is in jeopardy”.
Not that I believed any no-first use policy was genuine, mind you. Russia needs nukes to defend their vast land border. A shrinking population will make it even harder to mount a conventional defense against invasion.
And I assumed Putin already has that power. But perhaps there were residual powers outside his full control.
A personally loyal army and now all the nukes are his. Forever.
Have a super sparkly day.
UPDATE: Stalin was a fine man! So what if he broke tens of millions of human eggs to get the delicious omelet we have today! So you know the next omelet will be great, too!
