2/2
So how do we respond to this doctrine? It’s becoming increasingly difficult for Putin to say these things and not finally act upon them. This is quite a tight red line.
If we ignore it and Ukraine uses missiles from the west inside Russia after this blatant attempt to blackmail us out of doing so, what does he do? If he doesn’t react that’s the end of the line for his red line policies. If he does - well that’s a whole can of worms and you know where that might go.
Have no doubt this policy change is 100% for our benefit, it’s aimed right at us and it’s very specific. It’s possibly the most blatant and precise of the redlines Russia has laid down.
We know where they stand and the only question is do we believe them?
I suspect Biden and Sullivan will
not be willing to risk it. If they won’t nether will the UK or France be able to use their missiles.  On this, Putin wins.
His ability to unilaterally change the rules is quite remarkable.  Can you imagine the US saying that if a nuclear power used a non-nuclear states missiles on Ukraine that would initiate a nuclear response? Yet that’s what Russia is already doing.
So it seems this is a red line that actually might work. Yet you have to wonder what happens if we ignore it and he does nothing?  The credibility of nuclear weapons other than as a last resort is all that’s left - and that is where they should be.
Personally he puts his power on the line. A strongman cannot be seen to be weak and many already think he’s not been strong enough. We must be careful what we wish for.

‘The Analyst’ MilStratOnX
Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦