There were two news items this week that indicate that the use...

There were two news items this week that indicate that the use of nuclear weapons could be getting closer. However, the second of these two news items is also a big deterrent to the use of such weapons.


News Item 1.
Belorussia indicated that it controls the use of Russian nukes that are now on its territory.

Russia has from the beginning of its war threatened to use nukes. It seems to always be looking for a good excuse. Perhaps Belorussia is part of a potential Russian ploy to introduce nukes by proxy while plausibly claiming that it wasn't them. The only risk to Russia of Belorussia launching a nuclear attack is that Russia might end up losing one of its pawns (Belorussia). However, the risk of this happening is low. Russia would stand to benefit greatly from Belorussia entering the war. Russia may have been happy to oblige if Belorussia had said "We won't enter the war unless we have some nukes." Maybe Belorussia also said "Oh, and give us the Wagner Group as well."


News Item 2.
USA announced that it is sending cluster munitions to Ukraine.

Coming just a few days after Belorussia said that it can use Russia's nukes if it wishes, the message here is that if either Russia or Belorussia use nukes then USA will supply nukes to Ukraine. As clear and simple as any message could be. Yet none of the usual media hacks has cracked it. Media hacks and politicians always pretend that they are looking at the big picture. Yet the most that any of them can do is to moan about cluster bombs.


Conclusion: This week, nuclear war is not any more imminent than it was last week.