Global nuclear tensions and the threat of World War Three seem to have ratcheted up to a new high as President Joe Biden has allowed Ukraine to use US long-range missiles on Russia. The strikes inside have prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman to say they could lead to a ‘nuclear response’.
The US’s green light on using its missiles, after long instructing Ukraine to hold back, comes at a particularly crucial juncture as America is two months away from transitioning to former and President-elect Donald Trump.
Trump’s camp quickly accused Biden of trying to enable the start of WW3 before he returns to the White House. That is on top of some experts including one leading the risk management field saying that WW3 is ‘a very real threat’ under the upcoming Trump presidency.
Ukraine set off six American-made ATACMs missiles into Bryansk for the first time, according to the Kremlin. The Russian Ministry of Defence claimed it shot down five of the missiles and part of the last one but that its fragments crashed into a military building.
On Monday, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the US’s policy change on the missiles ‘reckless, dangerous, aimed at a qualitative change, a qualitative increase in the level of involvement of the United States in this conflict’.
Peskov reiterated Putin’s statement in September that such a move would signal ‘the direct involvement’ of the US and allies in the war in Ukraine. Peskov concluded: ‘It is obvious that the outgoing administration in Washington intends to take steps to continue adding fuel to the fire and continue to provoke tension around this conflict.’
While we’re yet to fully enter a cold war, the air is getting rather chilly. It may soon be time for the world to put its ‘big’ coat on. For certain parts of the US, however, it’s the other end of the thermometer that should concern them. Cold wars might be scary, but they’re a cool, blissful peace and a blessed relief to the much hotter alternative of a thermonuclear war.
Since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war, relations between Russia and the US have frosted back over after the thaw of recent decades. America, along with most of the western world, disapproves of Putin’s treatment of Ukraine. While Putin himself isn’t overly enthusiastic about most of the western world’s financing of Ukraine’s military.
While the odd direct threat of nuclear action from Putin does tumble from the man’s mouth, such warnings are largely just posturing, a verbal battle in an ongoing war of words. Let’s imagine, for a grim minute, that the posing became deadly serious. Where would Russia target in the event that the current pseudo-Cold War experienced something of a heatwave?
A few years back, Russian state television was surprisingly frank and open about where it might aim its country’s nuclear weapons in the event of all-out war.
In a video the channel later deleted – and the government denied all knowledge of – it was revealed where in America would face the wrath of Putin’s nuclear arsenal.
Reuters reported on what was broadcast and revealed these to be the main sites in America that would have reason to worry:
The Pentagon, Virginia
Let’s start with an obvious place: The Pentagon. The world’s second largest building has five sides and zero hope of avoiding being targeted in a nuclear war involving America.
There’s already a precedent; terrorists struck the US Department of Defense’s Arlington-based HQ on September 11, 2001, as part of the multipronged 9/11 attacks.
Russia’s strategy here would be fairly clear: nuking The Pentagon could disrupt the US’s military response and cripple command protocols.
It would basically chuck an enormous spanner in America’s works. It’d also be a giant symbolic PR win and – you’d imagine – significantly negatively impact the enemy’s morale.
Camp David, Maryland
Similar to The Pentagon, in a nuclear war scenario, Russia might target Camp David for its symbolic importance, potential disruption of US leadership and for a real psychological impact.
Camp David is a presidential retreat that spans 125 acres of woods and hills in Frederick County, Maryland. It’s been used as a place to hide away for US presidents since Franklin D Roosevelt signed off on converting it into a retreat back in 1942.
As a retreat where American presidents frequently hold diplomatic discussions, make important decisions and seek safety in times of danger, Camp David has serious symbolic significance. By attacking it, Russia would be showing that it’s capable of striking at the very core of the enemy.
Jim Creek Naval Radio Station, Washington state
Located near Oso in the state of Washington, north of Seattle, The Jim Creek Naval Radio Station is a United States Navy radio transmitter facility.
Its primary mission as a site is to communicate orders to US Navy submarines in the Pacific fleet. Part of this remit would include comms to subs loaded with nuclear warheads aimed directly at Russia.
In a nuclear conflict, Russia might target Jim Creek Naval Radio Station because of its crucial role in communication and intelligence gathering. Disabling it could disrupt US naval operations, hinder command coordination and impede the US military’s ability to respond effectively to aggression, providing Russia with a strategic advantage.
Fort Ritchie, Maryland
There are reasons why an enemy may want to target your military training centres. Mainly it’s to strike at the heart of tomorrow’s soldiers. Also, many such facilities also operate in other capacities, be it communications, intelligence or military co-ordination.
In this case, the reasons are a little harder to pinpoint. Why? Well, Fort Ritchie is closed down. It has been since 1998.
So it seems strange that this place is still considered to be a legitimate target for Russia in the event of nuclear war. There is a chance that Russian intel is incorrect or outdated. Such an assumption would be wildly naive, however. After all, they do have Wikipedia in Moscow.
So what gives? Surely there are other reasons why this old training centre could attract a skyful of rockets if the unthinkable were to happen. And, of course, there are.
Fort Ritchie potentially makes it into the sights of the Russian because it’s so near to Camp David. Not only that but it’s extremely close to a place known as ‘Site R’, aka The Raven Rock Mountain Complex. This is a nuclear bunker in Pennsylvania that the Pentagon may well relocate to in an emergency.
McClellan Air Force Base, California
Another possible target is McClellan Air Force Base in California, which was deactivated in 2001 and is now home to a business park.
The Russian video claims strategic offensive forces are managed there, but the only military unit currently based at McClellan is a Coast Guard air station that does patrol and search-and-rescue missions.
This one’s a bit of a head scratcher. It could be that there’s more going on there than the US government lets on and it’s really a secret military installation. Or Russia’s dossier on the place need updating.
A third option might be that this ‘leaked’ target is intentionally incorrect, so as to make the Russians appear to be working from outdated intelligence. Anyone who watches Slow Horses or reads John le Carré novels will recognise this kind of spycraft.
Any other nuclear stockpile
As has been the case since The Cold War began in earnest after the end of the Second World War and major world powers began working on amassing nuclear weaponry, stockpiles of warheads are always a possible target.
For Russia, with their hypothetical sights set on the US, any caches of nukes are an obvious target. Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is one such target. Another is the Pantex plant in Amarillo, Texas.
Let’s hope that, for all sakes, all of these places remain nice and un-nuked, though.
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