Boris Johnson: Any Argument that Putin Would Use Nukes Is a ‘Hogwash’

EXCERPT:

JOHNSON: “I don’t for a minute believe that Putin would use nuclear weapons against Ukraine. I give you several reasons for that. The first is that are he would immediately forfeit all the indulgence that he’s had from the Chinese, from the Gulf countries, from, you know, who still have relations with him, from the Indians, who still have relations with him, from all the swing voters around the world who still think, 'Well, you know, is Ukraine really top of my priorities? I'm gonna continue to deal with Putin.' He would terrify them, because none of them, none of them want to see nuclear proliferation or the use of nuclear weapons or aggressive states of Pakistan or any other country that possesses nuclear weapons to use them in a first strike weapon. A first strike of nuclear is an unbelievable thing to do, and so it would be a political disaster for Russia. He would — he would terrify his own people, absolutely terrify them, because they would not know exactly how the West was going to respond, so he would forfeit support abroad. He would forfeit a huge amount of support at home, they would not know when or how we were going to respond. And by the way, I do know a bit because we discussed it first when I was prime minister, I do know something of our preparations for that eventuality, and I can — you know, without breaking the logic of deterrence, which is ambiguity, I can tell you that it would be no fun at all for Russia if they — if they did that.”