The spectrum of “acceptable” weapons is shifting again with the Russian invasion of Ukraine seemingly rehabilitating land mines and cluster munitions and the deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure. With manpower shortages likely to continue to grow the pressure to use other means will increase.
Looking forward to more articles. A very important but neglected discussion, in my opinion a lesson from Ukraine is that the traditional deterrence equations are 'evolving,' or being undermined. Would a near-peer conflict have been tolerated in Europe 50 years ago? And how many nuclear red lines has Putin drawn? Each one that is broken changes the equations of deterrence making 'the rules' less defined, a situation that as you point out may not equate to lower thresholds for using nuclear weapons but also other WMDs.
I just found this section in the NDAA for 2022 dated December 27, 2021"
(7) The term ‘‘non-kinetic threats’’ means unconventional threats, including—
(A) cyber attacks;
(B) electromagnetic spectrum operations;
(C) chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear effects and high yield explosives; and
(D) directed energy weapons.
I'm not sure how "high-yield explosives" are at the same time "non-kinetic threats" but okay.
The spectrum of “acceptable” weapons is shifting again with the Russian invasion of Ukraine seemingly rehabilitating land mines and cluster munitions and the deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure. With manpower shortages likely to continue to grow the pressure to use other means will increase.
Looking forward to more articles. A very important but neglected discussion, in my opinion a lesson from Ukraine is that the traditional deterrence equations are 'evolving,' or being undermined. Would a near-peer conflict have been tolerated in Europe 50 years ago? And how many nuclear red lines has Putin drawn? Each one that is broken changes the equations of deterrence making 'the rules' less defined, a situation that as you point out may not equate to lower thresholds for using nuclear weapons but also other WMDs.
Wonderful. And welcome !