Do You Think the Russians Are Ready to Use Nuclear Weapons?

Former Swiss intelligence officer and NATO adviser Jacques Baud on the next phase of the Russia-Ukraine war and new allegations that the US and UK undermined a peace deal that could have ended it. The West's aim "is not the victory of Ukraine, It's the defeat of Russia," Baud says. "The problem is that nobody cares about Ukraine. We have just instrumentalized Ukraine for the purpose of US strategic interests -- not even European interests." Guest: Jacques Baud. Former intelligence officer with the Swiss Strategic Intelligence Service who has served in a number of senior security and advisory positions at NATO, the United Nations, and with the Swiss military. Corrections: In his Sept. 21 speech, Putin did not make an explicit threat to use nuclear weapons. He vowed to "make use of all weapon systems available to us," in the event of "a threat to the territorial integrity of our country and to defend Russia and our people." On nuclear weapons, the US did not have a "No First Use" policy. On the 2020 campaign trail, Joe Biden said that he supported the idea of "No First Use." He abandoned that in his presidential nuclear posture; but that was reversing his campaign stance, not official US policy.