Western Media: Russia is too poor for an arms race
For the past 38 years, there has not been “much nuclear rhetoric, like it is heard now: even at the height of the Cold War no one so lightly threatened the use of nuclear weapons,” wrote Julian Hans for the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
“Recently, Russian leadership let the genie out of the bottle and now it is causing Russian authorities difficulties,” the author wrote.
Recently, a documentary on a Russian TV state channel portrayed the Russian leader as the “general director” of the events leading to the reunification of the Crimea with Russia, Hans noted. Amongst other things, the film noted that the Russian president was thinking of how to bring about the full combat readiness of Russia’s nuclear weapons.
"Russia is too weak economically and politically unattractive to have any weight in the international arena, so the Russian leadership is achieving this strength with the help of the relatively cheap guerrilla tactics of misinformation, cyber attacks, security services operations and special forces."
But now, “while Moscow treated Donald Trump kindly, he announced the buildup of [the United States’] nuclear capability, and Moscow will have to maintain parity and will also have to build up its arsenal. But in a new arms race, Russia has no money," the author stated.