The Escalatory Attraction of Limited Nuclear Employment

The United States has entered a dangerous new era in which, for the first time in history, the nation is soon to face two nuclear-peer adversaries: Russia and China. In the three decades after the Soviet Union’s collapse, the United States focused on a variety of national security challenges that did not include emphases on Russia and China, who, over that period, observed the American way of war and developed capabilities to counter US strengths.

This article discusses the escalatory attraction of limited nuclear employment for Russia and China.