Biden cites Cuban Missile Disaster in describing Putin’s nuclear menace By Reuters

By Nandita Bose

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden mentioned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s menace to make use of nuclear weapons threatens to deliver in regards to the greatest such danger for the reason that Cuban Missile Disaster, including Washington was “attempting to determine” Putin’s off-ramp.

The White Home has mentioned repeatedly that it has seen no indication that Russia is getting ready to make use of nuclear weapons in regardless of what it calls Putin’s “nuclear saber-rattling.”

However Biden on Thursday made clear he was holding a cautious eye on Putin and the way he would possibly react as Ukraine’s navy makes beneficial properties in opposition to Russian invaders.

“For the primary time for the reason that Cuban Missile Disaster, now we have a direct menace to the usage of nuclear weapons, if the truth is issues proceed down the trail they’d been going,” Biden advised Democratic donors in New York.

He additionally mentioned, “now we have not confronted the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile disaster.”

Within the 1962 Cuban Missile Disaster, the USA beneath President John Kennedy and Soviet Union beneath its chief, Nikita Khrushchev, got here near the usage of nuclear weapons over the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba.

Putin, mentioned Biden, is “not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or organic or chemical weapons, as a result of his navy is, you would possibly say, is considerably underperforming.”

“I do not assume there’s any such factor as the flexibility to simply (use) a tactical nuclear weapon and never find yourself with Armageddon,” Biden mentioned.

Biden mentioned he and U.S. officers are trying to find a diplomatic off-ramp.

“We’re attempting to determine what’s Putin’s off-ramp…The place does he discover a manner out? The place does he discover himself able he doesn’t, not solely lose face however lose important energy in Russia,” Biden mentioned.

Biden spoke on the New York house of businessman James Murdoch, turning to the son of conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch to attempt to increase his celebration’s possibilities in Nov. 8 congressional elections.

The occasion at Murdoch’s house was to learn the Democratic Senatorial Marketing campaign Committee, which is offering help for Democratic candidates for the Senate.