XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.war.nuclear, sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: michele.white@lee.net   
      
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   America and its allies will act “decisively” if Russia uses a   
   tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine, US national security adviser   
   Jake Sullivan said on Sunday, reaffirming the Joe Biden White   
   House’s previous response to mounting concerns that Vladimir   
   Putin’s threats are in increased danger of being realized.   
      
   “We have communicated directly, privately and at very high   
   levels to the Kremlin that any use of nuclear weapons will be   
   met with catastrophic consequences for Russia, that the US and   
   our allies will respond decisively, and we have been clear and   
   specific about what that will entail,” Sullivan told CBS’s Face   
   The Nation.   
      
   Sullivan said that the Russian leader Putin had been “waving   
   around the nuclear card at various points through this   
   conflict”, and it was a matter that Biden’s administration has   
   “to take deadly seriously because it is a matter of paramount   
   seriousness – the possible use of nuclear weapons for the first   
   time since the second world war”.   
      
   In a separate interview with CBS, Ukraine president Volodymyr   
   Zelenskiy said he was not certain that Putin was bluffing with   
   nuclear threats. “Maybe yesterday it was bluff. Now, it could be   
   a reality,” he said. “He wants to scare the whole world.”   
      
   The administration’s security chief said that Russia’s nuclear   
   threat against Ukraine, including extending its nuclear umbrella   
   over eastern parts of the country that are still being contested   
   seven months after its invasion, would not deflect the US and   
   its allies.   
      
   “We will continue to support Ukraine in its efforts to defend   
   its country and defend its democracy,” Sullivan said, pointing   
   to more than $15bn in weapons, including air defense systems,   
   hundreds of artillery pieces and rounds of artillery, that the   
   US has supplied to Ukraine.   
      
   He said that Moscow’s mobilization of troops was a “sham   
   referenda in the occupied regions” that would not deter the US.   
   “What Putin has done is not exactly a sign of strength or   
   confidence – frankly, it’s a sign that they’re struggling badly   
   on the Russian side,” Sullivan said.   
      
   But, Sullivan added, it is “too soon to make comprehensive   
   predictions” about a collapse of Russian forces.   
      
   “I think what we are seeing are signs of unbelievable struggle   
   among the Russians – you’ve got low morale, where the soldiers   
   don’t want to fight. And who can blame them because they want no   
   part of Putin’s war of conquest in their neighboring country?”   
      
   Sullivan continued: “Russia is struggling, but Russia still   
   remains a dangerous foe, and capable of great brutality.” He   
   alluded to mass burial sites containing hundreds of graves that   
   Ukrainian forces found after recapturing Izium from Russia and   
   said, “We continue to take that threat seriously.”   
      
   He added that the US, the International Atomic Agency and   
   Ukraine nuclear regulators are working together to ensure there   
   is no “melt-down” at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in eastern   
   Ukraine.   
      
   The Russians, he said, had been “consistently implying that   
   there may be some kind of accident at this plant”.   
      
   Reactors at the plant, Sullivan said, had been put into “cold   
   storage” to “try to make sure there is no threat posed by a melt-   
   down or something else at the plant. But it’s something we all   
   have to keep a close eye on.”   
      
   Separately, Sullivan said US criticism of a crackdown on   
   mounting protests in Iran after the death in police custody of   
   22-year-old Mahsa Amini would not affect the administration’s   
   offer to lift sanctions on Iran as part of the effort to reach a   
   deal on nuclear enrichment.   
      
   “The fact that we are in negotiations with Iran on its nuclear   
   program is in no way impacting our willingness and our vehemence   
   in speaking out about what has been happening on the streets of   
   Iran,” he said.   
      
   Last week, Biden told the General Assembly of the United Nations   
   in New York that “we stand with the brave citizens and the brave   
   women of Iran who right now are demonstrating to secure their   
   basic rights”. The US president’s remarks came shortly after a   
   defiant speech by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.   
      
   In his remarks on Sunday, Sullivan said the US had taken   
      
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