Weeks before Vladimir Putin shook the world by ordering his nuclear forces to their highest state of readiness, the United States, Britain and other NATO allies began shadow-boxing with Russia on social media to signal they’re prepared to go all-out should the Ukrainian conflict escalate and spill into Europe.
It’s the kind of brinksmanship mentality the world hasn’t seen since the darkest days of the Cold War, said one expert who has been researching the so-called “strategic signaling” that’s been taking place with alarming frequency since early December.
“As a professional and studying this pretty much my entire life, I haven’t seen anything like this since I was young back in the 1980s,” said Sean Maloney, a professor of history at the Royal Military College of Canada. “This is highly unusual. It’s highly dangerous.”