Snagged this off of DemocracyNow.org, specifically from the transcript of yesterday’s interview with retired Air Force Colonel, Sam Gardiner (read it all here: http://www.democracynow.org/…_killed_as ). He said some disturbing things in the interview regarding his take on the mess over in Georgia. For starters, he said that it’s Russian policy that if the US attacks them (ever) they’ll use tactical nukes in response. This, Gardiner says, is because we’re such bad-asses with the conventional weapons. This is the first time I ever thought I’d be happy to hear that. I NEVER want to hear that we’re bad-asses with the nukes. What’s frightening is that the Ruskies may earn that description themselves, if the USMil gets involved over there.

More from Gardiner, in the transcript (not pictured in the screencap above): "At a news conference on Sunday, the deputy national security adviser said we have noted that the Russians have introduced two SS-21 medium-range ballistic missile launchers into South Ossetia. Now, let me say a little footnote about those. They’re both conventional and nuclear. They have a relatively small conventional warhead, however. So, the military significance, if they were to be conventional, was almost trivial compared to what the Russians could deliver with the aircraft that they were using to strike the Georgians."

What that means is that if those SS-21 missiles were used with conventional warheads, they’d be less destructive than missiles fired from aircraft. So, if this is true, it’s only logical that the Russians have nuclear warheads on those SS-21 missiles.

Gardiner also mentioned that Russian Military forces have been training for situations like this one where America does get involved, thus forcing the Russians to follow through with their policy of using tactical nukes against the hypothetical US forces.

Ignoring all the other reasons for the US to not get involved in the current Russian/Georgian War, I think this is another good one. Something about Putin makes me think he’d actually use nukes. I don’t know if you can trust those ex-KGB guys…