I have that very strong feeling too, but would you risk your life for that feeling? That is Putin’s Gambit. It is working so far.
My speculation is that this is a clumsy negotiation attempt. Putin is losing the war in Ukraine. So he threatens NATO. His hope is that NATO will be scared and will negotiate. Putin will then agree to not attack NATO (which he can’t do anyway) in exchange for NATO withdrawing its support of Ukraine.
Nah, there’s no evidence that North Korea even has any nuclear weapons at all. They have nuclear bombs, but weapons need a delivery system, if you’re going to nuke anyone but yourself.
And even if 90% (which wouldn’t surprise me) or 99% (which would) of Russia’s arsenal is nonfunctional, their official strength is 6000 weapons. 600 nukes, or even 60, is still plenty enough to ruin a lot of folks’ day.
Putin’s not that idiotic. He knows he can’t do bupkis, and he knows that NATO knows. This is purely for domestic consumption, because a lot of Russians still don’t know.
What about the rockets they keep testing?
And after ruining 20 million people’s lives, they are guaranteed the complete annihilation of Russia as a country, along with its 150 million inhabitants, without the possibility to retaliate afterwards.
China is happy to take advantage of Russia’s need for cash and weapons so that they can get oil at a cheap price.