Putin Presses the Nuclear Nerve Again

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Russian President Vladimir Putin is once again trying to manipulate nuclear weapons to compensate for the ongoing Russian military disaster in Ukraine. These new Russian moves are dangerous but not a crisis.

First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic:

• Don’t take your eye off Jack Smith.
• David Frum: Never again Trump
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Useless, Stupid, and Provocative

You can always tell when things are going badly on the battlefield for the Russians in Ukraine, because Vladimir Putin starts talking about nuclear weapons. For weeks, the Russians have been pounding the city of Bakhmut, but so far, Bakhmut remains in Ukrainian hands, despite repeated Russian—and Western—predictions that it would fall. (The Ukrainian high command recently that the situation is “being stabilized,” which is mostly good news.) No matter what happens next, however, the cost to the, sending poorly armed men into battle merely to absorb Ukrainian ammunition and die so that the next group of attackers can get closer to the lines.