After the start of the Russian military attack on Ukraine last February, the Cold War fears of using the exchange of nuclear weapons as a strategic weapon, the West, represented by the United States of America and its European allies and others, says that Russia may use because of the faltering of its attack in Ukraine.
But nuclear states are spreading their creed about the use of these weapons, explaining when and why they might have to make such a devastating choice, which could lead to the annihilation of the entire planet.
“Why do we need a world where there is no Russia?” Russian President Vladimir Putin previously said. Such statements are interpreted as official Russian arrogance that threatens the entire planet, and are considered evidence of Russia’s willingness to use nuclear weapons, and perhaps also of Putin’s “madness.”
But is it limited to Russia? What do the nuclear doctrines of different countries look like? Are there countries or international organizations other than Russia that express their willingness to use nuclear weapons? And in what case?
'Pre-emptive strikes can be used'... America's nuclear doctrine
A paper by the Congressional Research Service explores the idea of declaring a US commitment not to use nuclear weapons as a first strike, and to use these weapons only as a response to a nuclear escalation.
The paper reviews the history of the American nuclear doctrine in different periods, but the most important is the way the recent American administrations think about it, and what they published regarding the American nuclear doctrine, and America's commitments about weapons.
According to the paper; The Obama administration issued a report on the matter, saying that it would "consider the use of weapons only in exceptional circumstances" and that it is committed not to threaten any non-nuclear state with the use of these weapons; As long as it was a signatory to the Convention on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
But the Obama administration did not specify the goal of the existence of its nuclear weapons with nuclear deterrence alone, and to intimidate other nuclear states from using these weapons against the United States of America and its interests, and the Obama administration justified this by saying that such a doctrine is a “narrow range of emergency situations” in which nuclear weapons can be used.
Why does the United States want to maintain the possibility of using its nuclear weapons?
The United States wants this to deter the possibility of a "conventional, chemical or biological" attack, and while what Russia is waging today in Ukraine is by definition a "conventional war" against Ukraine, the United States warns that chemical and biological weapons may also be used in the attack.
also; The Trump administration has refrained from issuing any commitment to refrain from using nuclear weapons first in any conflict, or that the purpose of the existence of these weapons is nuclear deterrence only, and has specified that the United States will use these weapons only in cases of significant threat to American interests or its allies and partners, without specifying What are these cases.
The Trump administration has also emphasized that nuclear weapons are useful in deterring any nuclear or other attack, whether against it or its allies.
The Biden administration has also recently reviewed the nuclear doctrine, and it is expected that it will not amend it to include the use of nuclear weapons first, and accordingly, the nuclear doctrine in America will remain as it is, and the American nuclear doctrine is known as “calculated ambiguity,” because it does not specify the circumstances that may Weapons are clearly used, and America may even have to use them first and before its enemies.
Some defend the doctrine that it serves to underscore the United States' commitment to defending its allies, helps deter other nuclear powers from using nuclear weapons, and prevents them from using them preemptively against them, but others say that a commitment after nuclear weapons are preemptively used will prevent miscalculations. From other countries, you might think that the United States intends to launch a nuclear attack on them.
From the Soviet Union to the Russian Federation.. How did the eastern nuclear doctrine develop?
When the Soviet Union was standing and strong; The Soviet Union declared its commitment to refrain from preemptively using nuclear weapons, and that it would use these weapons only as a response to their use against it, by any enemy of the Soviet Union, according to a US research paper .
The Soviet idea required the necessity of ensuring victory in any world war that might be fought against the "imperialist West", and transformed from a conventional war into a nuclear war, as a result of its use by other countries. In the early eighties, the Soviets adopted it as a moral card in the face of the West.
The United States of America and NATO refused to adopt such a nuclear doctrine, despite the adoption of it by the Soviets, maintaining the possibility of using nuclear weapons against the Soviet Union, in the event of its decision to enter a major conventional war.
But the majority of American analysts agree that the Soviets did not profess such a doctrine; Except because of their clear military superiority in conventional warfare on the European front, and the absence of the necessity to use nuclear weapons against their enemies if they decided to invade Europe, and the Americans remained in doubt that the Soviet leadership kept in its hands the card to use nuclear weapons preemptively, without declaring a clear doctrine in that .
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia modified its nuclear doctrine to adapt to its weaker position in the post-Cold War world. In 1993, Russia announced its rejection of the Soviet doctrine of not using nuclear weapons preemptively, especially with the marked weakness in its conventional capabilities at that time.
in 1997; Russia announced something similar to what Putin said later, that the new doctrine allows the use of nuclear weapons; In the event of an existential threat to the country, or any threat to its sovereignty, and in the year 2000, Russia expanded the cases of using nuclear weapons, to include any attack on it or its allies with any weapon of mass destruction, or a massive conventional attack, which is similar to the American nuclear doctrine.
Nikolai Patrushev, announced that his country reserves the right to use pre-emptive nuclear strikes, in the face of any external aggression; If he decided on a comprehensive attack with conventional weapons, but the state issued a new doctrine limiting the possibility of using nuclear weapons, within the limits of an existential threat to Russia; Whatever the threat is.
Finally, in 2020 the Russian Nuclear Doctrine was issued; To confirm that Russia considers nuclear weapons only as a means of deterrence and defense, in the face of any threat to the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to protect its interests and those of its allies as well.
Russia enumerates examples of such a danger; It includes obtaining reliable data indicating the launching of ballistic missiles towards its territory or the territory of its allies, or the use of any type of weapons of mass destruction against it or its allies, in addition to the occurrence of an attack by an enemy on sensitive government or military sites.
As for the reasons for changing the Russian doctrine from its Soviet predecessor, there is no doubt that Russia’s sense of weakness and declining power, in addition to the increase in Western dangers to it and against its security and its surroundings, played the main role in modifying the nuclear doctrine, after the Soviet Union was confident in its military capabilities; So that it does not need to preemptively use nuclear weapons.
Naturally; The expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in recent decades, including the deployment of both conventional and nuclear weapons, has drawn closer and closer to Russia's borders with time.
In conclusion, in light of the current events; It is that the Russian nuclear doctrine is not very different from the American doctrine. Rather, the Russian nuclear doctrine stresses that the danger is existential to the Russian state, while the United States says that it can use nuclear weapons in the event of a significant - and undetermined - threat to its interests or the interests of its allies.
Both doctrines threaten the world with the possibility of a comprehensive nuclear war, just as Russia may exploit the current events to provide justifications for the use of nuclear weapons. The Kremlin talked about the existence of chemical and biological weapons laboratories in Ukraine, which are there to threaten Russia in the first place, and the same accusation is directed at Russia with the possibility of using nuclear weapons against Ukraine, As a result of her attack faltering in it.
NATO nuclear doctrine
NATO's nuclear doctrine is not very different from that of the United States; It does not stipulate refraining from the use of preemptive strikes, but confirms that it is a defensive alliance, aimed at ensuring the security of its members.
The alliance says on its website that it seeks to reach a world without nuclear weapons, but this does not mean abandoning the nuclear weapons of the alliance as long as there are nuclear weapons in the world, with the aim of deterring any external party from using these weapons against the alliance and its members.
The Alliance is involved in global nuclear disarmament, and considers its strategic goal to one day achieve a world without nuclear weapons.
China's nuclear doctrine
during the Korean War in the 1950s; The United States of America threatened to use nuclear weapons against China and North Korea, and because the United States is the only country that actually used nuclear weapons in history, these threats were not empty, of course, in what could be called “ nuclear blackmail ”, since China and North Korea did not possess weapons nuclear at the time.
The United States has deployed nuclear bombers in the Pacific Ocean, under President Harry Truman, since 1950, in an attempt to deter China from entering the war with North Korea; But the real blackmail emerged under the next president, Dwight Eisenhower.
Eisenhower hinted that he could order the use of nuclear weapons against China, if it could not reach an agreement to end the war in Korea with the United States of America, and that American military leaders used the same threat, with suspicions of attempts to push the American president to actually use them, to destroy capabilities Chinese military.
China has never forgotten this "nuclear blackmail", and sought to acquire its nuclear weapons, and was able to acquire nuclear weapons later in the sixties, but the Chinese nuclear weapon in terms of its size and the country's nuclear doctrine , remained defensive and deterrent in the face of other nuclear powers, as China does not have an arsenal. Nuclear similar to the United States or Russia.