{"id":75410,"date":"2026-08-06T09:15:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T13:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/?p=75410"},"modified":"2026-08-06T09:15:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T13:15:24","slug":"the-failure-of-russia-and-iran-to-recognize-existential-threats-are-leading-to-nuclear-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/?p=75410","title":{"rendered":"<h2>The Failure of Russia and Iran to Recognize Existential Threats Are Leading to Nuclear War<\/h2>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--more-->Paul Craig Roberts<\/p>\n<p>Since the beginning of Washington\u2019s use of Ukraine as the proxy for Washington\u2019s war against Russia, I have made the point that Putin\u2019s limited and restrained response to an existential threat is reality-denying and unrealistic.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Russia is under<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>direct strategic assault and Putin has refused to recognize this fact and to respond appropriately.<\/p>\n<p>Gilbert Doctorow and John Helmer have joined me in this conclusion, and now comes Phil Butler writing in\u00a0<i>Global Research<\/i>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Butler concludes:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe thesis of what you are about to read is simple and uncompromising: the era of the \u201climited war\u201d is a Western fantasy. If Moscow is to survive this existential proxy assault, it cannot respond with half-measures or symmetrical restraint. The only rational, historically grounded response is total mobilization and the systematic, comprehensive neutralization of Ukraine\u2019s remaining critical infrastructure. Endless attrition is a losing game. Victory is not a preference; it is an operational necessity.\u201d\u00a0<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.globalresearch.ca\/what-victory-looks-like\/5934726\">https:\/\/www.globalresearch.ca\/what-victory-looks-like\/5934726<\/a><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>What Putin\u2019s beating around the bush is leading to is rising escalation ending in nuclear war.<\/p>\n<p>I am concerned that Iran is repeating Putin\u2019s mistake and is playing a tit-for-tat game with a proxy enemy\u2013Washington\u2013and not engaging its real enemy\u2013Israel.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>The Iranian leadership seem to believe that a peace deal with Washington, if one is possible, would resolve the issue.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>If this is the Iranian belief, then Iran has failed, like Putin, to recognize an existential threat.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>____<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/paulcraigroberts.org\/the-failure-of-russia-and-iran-to-recognize-existential-threats-are-leading-to-nuclear-war\/\">https:\/\/paulcraigroberts.org\/the-failure-of-russia-and-iran-to-recognize-existential-threats-are-leading-to-nuclear-war\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=75410"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75411,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75410\/revisions\/75411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=75410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=75410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=75410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}