The issue is no longer Ukraine, which is just a pawn in the eyes of proxies Russia and United States-NATO. The issue is the possibility of nuclear war based on the moves of these proxy giants. Russia reiterated its threat of taking the nuclear option right after it suffered heavy losses in a recent Ukrainian counteroffensive near the capital Kyiv.

When Russia is "cornered," it will surely take the nuclear option because, for them, it is a threat to the security of the entire nation. But the US is dangerously taking this threat as a "bluff," which Secretary of State Antony Blinken branded as "totally hollow" and "loose rhetoric" in an interview with the US TV program 60 Minutes. Blinken issued a veiled threat, "the consequences are very clear," without giving details (CBS News, 25 September 2022). In other words, the US-NATO response is void of any effort toward reconciliation or dialogue.

The EU feels the "bluff" is real. Joseph Borrell, EU foreign policy expert, said, "(The EU must take) Putin's nuclear threats seriously. Certainly, it's a dangerous moment because the Russian army has been pushed into a corner" (BBC, 25 September 2022). A headline by The Guardian read, "Putin again flirts with the grim prospect of nuclear war. This time, he might mean it (25 September 2022)."

The catalyst to nuclear war revolves around the fact that the US is now involved directly in the war in Ukraine, sending HIMARS missiles by remote control from a secret command center deep in the US continent. They are eyeball-to-eyeball digitally. If "cornered," Putin may have several options: Take out the command center in the US continent with either ICBMs or smart hypersonic missiles, nuclear or conventional, or silent Electro Magnetic Wave bombs to jam and paralyze HIMARS signals; or destroy with a precision power laser the satellite controlling the HIMARS. All these powerful Russian weapons are on operational mode. (Read more: "Can HIMARS Trigger a Nuclear War?"

https://tribune.net.ph/2022/09/23/can-himars-trigger-a-nuke-war/)

Asked what would be the reply of the US to Putin's "bluff," US President Joe Biden simply said, "Don't, don't, don't." Asked to be more specific in US efforts to prevent World War 3, Blinken failed to answer the question, and simply said, "No one (Russian people) is telling Putin that he is doing the wrong thing," implying there is no such plan to prevent WW3, no sincere effort toward peace. Everyone, the two proxies, are all on a "war footing."