Yeah but did Russia nuke Turkey? Turkey is hosting nukes as well. It is much closer to Russia than Poland.
Those are airplane dropped gravity bombs. Not ballistic missiles with hypersonic speed. You have more reaction time and less risk of going over the threshold. They also have a limited size warhead. They are tactical nukes not strategic ones. They are covered under existing nuclear arms reduction treaties.
You need to pay attention, I think Putin already indicated he will if needed in his speech. He said he knows Russia is outnumbered financially and militarily but he also reminded everyone he has the second largest arsenal of nuclear weapons.
Actually Russia is the first I think. The US has more weapons stockpiled than Russia but less active ones. Plus US missiles are old.
It would still result in mutual destruction though. So this is a bit irrelevant.
Semantics don't matter, it will be Russia attacking Poland. If Russia uses tactical nuclear weapons, what's stopping NATO from using them on Russian forces?
You seem to think that only NATO is afraid of nuclear warfare. I live in Russia, do you think we are ready to die in nuclear fire over fucking American bases in Poland?
If the US insists on not removing Aegis Ashore and getting back into the ABM Treaty or similar it is likely there will be a Russia-NATO conflict. Putin has been saying that for like two decades.
You are correct that any Russian conventional forces in Poland would be highly exposed to a tactical nuclear strike. Which is why it is way more likely they would invade the Baltics. If they do land invade NATO. An attack on NATO is almost irresistible if they totally cut them out. Since if the US fails to do its "obligations" it will could cause the desirability of NATO to crumble immediately and make a negotiated solution way more likely. So it will be a mess. This is a pretty shitty situation.
