A prime example of how to conduct psychological warfare has been released by the russian foreign ministry.

The ministry instil fear in the western politician's minds by releasing statements containing known fear trigger words: nuclear, doctrine, escalation

Unfortunately, western politicians are not immune to this psychological warfare and the russians are having some success in this area - because we allow them to.

As scary as the topic of nuclear war is, the reality is that a system has been created of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD). An attacker cannot be successful - not even the russians.

According to MAD, as soon as a nuclear attack would be launched by russia, a nuclear counter-strike is immediately launched that results in russia's destruction. It is a loss-loss scenario. A zero gain game. As soon as Putin was to press his button, there is no more Putin.

Yet we somehow seem to allow russia to bully our politicians using nuclear rhetoric, such as in the statement just issued below:

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Russia is considering revising its nuclear doctrine due to what it perceives as the "escalation course" of the West.

"Deputy Head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Serhiy Ryabkov, mentioned that the worsening foreign policy situation, driven by the actions of the United States and its allies, has prompted Moscow to assess whether its current nuclear deterrence strategy is adequate. He stated that the process of updating the relevant document is ongoing, though it's too early to predict when this revision will be finalized."
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And note how it is playing on politician's beliefs that there is room for avoidance of this "scary change". It is "an ongoing process" - it is not too late to change it. "You'd better let us continue killing Ukrainians and we might not do this after all".

Are we letting the bully win?