Ep. 21: Matthew Kroenig on Ukraine and Putin’s Nuclear Weapons

Matthew Kroenig, Professor in the Department of Government and Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and Director of Studies at the Atlantic Council, joins the show to discuss Russian nuclear doctrine and what it means for the war in Ukraine. Times 00:49 - Introduction 01:07 - Forecasting Russia's potential gains in Ukraine 02:45 - The nuclear dimension in Ukraine 05:05 - Russian nuclear doctrine: escalate to de-escalate 10:52 - Potential U.S. responses to Russian nuclear strikes on NATO allies 12:54 - Perceptions of nuclear weapons, from the Cold War to now 15:46 - Battlefield nuclear tactics 18:32 - Russian thinking on employing chemical weapons 21:05 - U.S. nuclear weapons policy 25:44 - Scenarios when Russia would use nuclear weapons 27:16 - Putin's rationale and next steps 29:21 - Russian strikes and potential fault lines in Western unity 32:30 - U.S. reliance on Russia's brokerage of a nuclear deal with Iran