Lmao

Well, that's debateable. Regimes can become pretty suicidal if they are desperate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-28_Sarmat

Yeah world powers want to rule the planet not blow it up

Give pictures 😩

Their most recent tests ended with nuclear fallout over their cities, with spikes in radiation in Sweden.

awww blow it up wat cooler

Well, it's a simple matter of self-interest, Flavius.

As much as the Communists espouse collectivist ideology, self-preservation exists irrespective of their conjecture.

Arguably, it is self-interest driving their leadership forward anyway.

The possibility of total war isn't there today. Thus they will not be used.

Of course not.

The only way I see it being used is via an asymmetrical threat/adversary.

That doesn't mean such Individual(s) can't be backed by a foreign power, however.

So, keep that in mind.

Ok, what would happen if Russia did the equivalent of pearl harbour? Would the US respond with conventional warfare? Smaller missiles? Because they could flatten Russia in that department too, leaving Putin with the option of nuclear war vs being deposed and probably killed.

"if Russia did the equivalent of pearl harbour"

They wouldn't.

So it's pointless to speculate.

That's the most likely use scenario to occur, which is rather unfortunate as the outcome won't be what they expect, given it'd still end up with their annihilation.

But..

It depends on what happened

If nuclear weapons were used, then the US would likely retaliate with the same

If it were a conventional attack, then the US would do the same

Japan did. Japan attacked an enemy it knew it could not ever hope to defeat. and it did so unprovoked.

it doesn't have to be rational

Call in NATO and begin an air-war

That is, my reference to using an asymmetrical means of payload delivery, whether through a state-sponsored organization of terror or some loose assets of a foreign power.

Japan attacking the US WAS rational.

in what possible way LOL

Right.

They thought they could win with Pearl Harbor

They lost because carriers where not there

If Russia attacked the US using a nuke the US has enough forces throughout the globe, along with NATO forces, and the immediate support of the UN to wipe Russia off the face of the Earth with in a matter of weeks.

Japan hoped to crush the us navy with an preemptive strike.

It was a gamble

There won't be unconventional responses to conventional attacks, strictly speaking in terms of nuclear warfare.

Russia's only hope is nukes in that scenario and it wouldn't entertain it.

And japan lost

That Japan was forced for constant territorial expansion south into the resource areas.. That the US and her puppet state (Philippines) were right next to Japans major supply lines threatening to cut it if they so wished. The same justification for the Suez crisis. @jacovich stabs

You may be right, Wizard.