To my considerable surprise, late yesterday afternoon Biden asked a question that actually made sense. If Vladimir Putin is refusing to use nukes, then why has he been talking about using nukes for months now?

"If he has no intention, why does he keep talking about it?" President Joe Biden says about Russia President Vladimir Putin's statement that he has no intent to use nuclear warfare in Ukraine.

Watch #RushHour live: https://t.co/s8z9kEhRC4 pic.twitter.com/vSoKw1ktpx

— NewsNation (@NewsNation) October 27, 2022

I know, it’s pretty amazing. Yet, Biden is actually correct here. Putin has used the threat of nuclear weapons multiple times since he sent troops into Ukraine last February. Yet, yesterday, Putin said in a speech he wouldn’t be using nuclear weapons against Ukraine. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday denied having any intentions of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine but described the conflict there as part of alleged efforts by the West to secure its global domination, which he insisted are doomed to fail.

Speaking at a conference of international foreign policy experts, Putin said it’s pointless for Russia to strike Ukraine with nuclear weapons.

“We see no need for that,” Putin said. “There is no point in that, neither political, nor military.”

In the same speech, Putin also declared that the West (particularly the United States) is playing a dangerous and bloody game in our evident quest for world domination.

Yes, I laughed at that, but Putin is serious which continues to make him dangerous to his own country as well as the world. 

Furthermore, the dude was either outright lying or hoping people wouldn’t notice that, ummmm he has troops conducting NUCLEAR DRILLS! 

Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw the training of Moscow’s strategic deterrence forces, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.

“Under the leadership of… Vladimir Putin, a training session was held with ground, sea and air strategic deterrence forces, during which practical launches of ballistic and cruise missiles took place,” a Kremlin statement said.

The drills included launching test missiles from the eastern Kamchatka peninsula and from the Barents Sea in the Arctic.

Now, don’t get me wrong, NATO troops along with Russia and others have conducted many a nuclear deterrence drill over the years. However, when one considers the multiple threats Putin has made, Joe Biden’s question is relevant. As recently as September, Putin, while conscripting thousands more troops, did say the use of nuclear weapons is on the table. But NOW he says it’s off the table? 

What to believe here? Supposedly his purported goddaughter has now fled to Lithuania. As noted here, she was critical of Putin but then became a politician with some accusing her of subtly promoting the Kremlin agenda. Yet now she’s abandoned ship?

A channel associated with #Belarusian security forces published a video of Ksenia #Sobchak crossing the Belarusian-Lithuanian border at the Vidzy checkpoint. pic.twitter.com/rNRQzuCZBN

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) October 27, 2022

There are lots of questions regarding Putin’s goddaughter for sure. Meanwhile, if Putin is pulling back on nuke threats, perhaps it is because they are now going after commercial satellites if they get out of line. 

A senior Russian Foreign Ministry official said that commercial satellites from the United States and its allies could become legitimate targets for Russia if they were involved in the war in Ukraine.

“Quasi-civilian infrastructure may be a legitimate target for a retaliatory strike,” Konstantin Vorontsov, deputy director of the foreign ministry’s department for non-proliferation and arms control, was quoted as saying by TASS.

“We are talking about the involvement of components of civilian space infrastructure, including commercial, by the United States and its allies in armed conflicts,” Vorontsov was quoted as saying at the United Nations.

I have to wonder what Elon Musk thinks about all of this right now? Particularly given that he has a significant number of satellites focused on Ukraine in order to help them communicate via Starlink. 

Furthermore, it seems his gambit to call a UN Security Council meeting in order to accuse the U.S. and Ukraine of colluding to build bio weapons kind of fell…flat. 

Putin has continually used the threat of nuclear weapons as a bludgeon. It’s one that seemingly hasn’t worked. So now, while he’s running nuke deterrence exercises, he backtracks and says nukes are off the table. While Biden shockingly asked a relevant question, there’s another that we should all be asking. 

What game is Putin playing now? 

Feature Photo Credit: Original artwork by Victory Girls Darleen Click