cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/28311786
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a revised nuclear doctrine declaring that a conventional attack on Russia by any nation that is supported by a nuclear power will be considered a joint attack on his country.
The signing of the doctrine, which says that any massive aerial attack on Russia could trigger a nuclear response, reflects Putin’s readiness to threaten use of the country’s nuclear arsenal to force the West to back down as Moscow presses a slow-moving offensive in Ukraine.
To be honest it’s worse than that. Japan was already moving towards a ceasefire and looking to exit the war when we dropped the bomb. It was posturing, specifically against Russia that we dropped those two bombs.
We dropped those two bombs on Japan to justify the cost of the program and to showcase our new weapon that would project power and create a new US hegemony.
Here’s a great interview about it. https://www.npr.org/2023/08/11/1193189051/looking-back-at-the-decision-to-drop-atomic-bombs-on-hiroshima-and-nagasaki
That’s a very one-sided take on why the 2 bombs were dropped. Far more significant is that the Potsdam ultimatum had still not been publicly acknowledged let alone officially accepted and that Japanese resistance was significantly increasing every km closer the allies got to the Japanese mainland despite almost every city already being levelled due to prior bombing campaigns.
The Japanese government wasn’t working towards a ceasefire. It was split evenly for vs against surrender and the Hawks attempted a coup even after the bombs were dropped.
Saving American lives (and Japanese lives in the aggregate) was the foremost reason they were dropped. and fixating on tertiary bonus goals is disinformation when the whole situation is considered.
The Soviet Union declared war on Japan six days earlier. The bombs were meant to send a strong message to the Soviets and prevent them from taking Japan.
Really not true. Minutes were taken during meetings where these decisions were made and it’s possible to see what people actually were thinking and saying rather than speculating.
That being said, the firebombing of Dresden was absolutely as a warning to the Soviets. The RAF put out a memo saying that they “want to show the Soviets what Bomber Command can do.”
Oh I know. It’s a centerpiece national shame among a wide collection.