The syllogism written in the editorial is given as – Putin is threatening nuclear warfare. → Threatening nuclear warfare, even if you aren’t intending to actually use nuclear weapons, is reckless. → Putin is acting reckless on the world stage.
Narrative Analysis – In this editorial piece by the Washington Post, it vehemently condemns Russian president Valdimir Putin’s decision to continually threaten nuclear warfare in their war against Ukraine. In this piece it presents a couple of arguments that show exactly why Putin is being dangerously reckless as to even threaten a nuclear attack on Ukraine. The first argument is that a nuclear attack on Ukraine doesn’t even make sense when assessing the Russian goals for Ukraine. The invasion of Ukraine was, in Russia’s own words, for territorial conquest and to keep NATO off of Russia’s doorstep. A nuclear attack would not help but hinder Russia in accomplishing those goals. The territory would be useless if it was a desolate nuclear hellscape, and NATO would almost assuredly respond swiftly. This isn’t even considering the damage that could fall upon Russia, with radiation likely to blow over onto Russia’s lands and hurt its own people. The editorial also suggests Putin is overstepping his bounds, as he isn’t the only person that is needed in order to launch Russia’s nuclear arsenal. In terms of these arguments, they seem valid. It is absolutely true that NATO won’t just sit back as Russia launches nukes, and that an escalation to nuclear warfare would only make Russia’s situation much, much worse. Not only this, but Putin threatening this and hanging over the heads of world leaders can make his threats empty and discredit his word on a world stage. Even the mentioning of escalation of this war to nuclear war is something that causes everyone to pay attention and the quote at the end of the editorial sums up how this situation would realistically play out. “A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought” (Board, 1).
Toulmin’s Model of Argument
- Claim
Putin’s threats to use nuclear warheads on Ukraine as a result of how the war against Ukraine has played out is reckless and endangers millions of lives as a result. His threats also endanger the idea of nuclear restraint, the idea that nobody should use nuclear devices for warfare as it endangers the safety of the entire world.
- Data
While there isn’t much quantitative data on this as there is only a very small sample size of nuclear devices used in warfare, one can know the type of damage that nuclear warheads can do. Russia has an estimated 2000 nuclear warheads at their disposal, mostly created during the Cold War era. The damage that these warheads could do could wind up killing millions of people through radiation, nuclear fires, and the initial blast itself. It would almost automatically become a humanitarian crisis.
- Warrants
The threats of nuclear warfare as frequent as the ones Putin puts out make nuclear warfare not seem as serious as it assuredly is. To make nuclear warfare seem more common and less taboo as it was before these threats is very dangerous, promoting the use of these devices not only in self-defense, but also as a way to gain territory or to conquer other nations. This could set a precedent we’ve already seen during the Cold War, where nations dangle this horrific threat over others for political gain. However, it is possible that while Putin may not even consider using these weapons, it normalizes and weaponizes the idea of nuclear warfare, amping up the stakes for everyone across the world.
- Qualifiers
It is true that Russia is not achieving the goals they wanted when they began to invade Ukraine. The Ukrainian people have shown tremendous resolve to hold out against what is considered one of the biggest and most powerful countries in the world. However, one of the biggest advantages that Russia possesses is the nuclear stockpile they have. Putin threatening or even using these warheads would allow Russia to use their full capabilities or lower the Ukrainian morale, as Ukraine knows they wouldn’t be able to fight back in the event of this war escalating to become nuclear.
- Rebuttals
While threatening nuclear war could give Russia and Putin a short-term advantage to help win the war against Ukraine, Russia needs to understand how important they are on the world stage. What they do impacts the entire world. They possess an exorbitant amount of firepower in nukes, and the amount of destruction these weapons could cause should be handled with extreme caution and as responsibly as possible. The Russians were the ones who started this war and invaded Ukraine, and using nuclear weapons or even threatening them shows how low Russia will go for short-term gains. Not only this, but this type of action endangers the entire world.
Citation and link to article:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/24/putin-nuclear-bomb-threat-ukraine-dangerous/
Board, E. (2022, September 24). Opinion | Putin tears at the fabric of nuclear restraint. Words are dangerous, too. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/24/putin-nuclear-bomb-threat-ukraine-dangerous/
Jacob Dylan Bennett 