Putin's new nukes

Vladimir Putin, like Donald Trump, likes a good show, and by golly, did he have one today! He stood before the nation and delivered his annual address, focusing much of it on a new array of fancy, exotic nuclear missile systems to scare the living daylights out of the US. "Look what I've got, so don't underestimate me," he as good as said. Certainly, if the weapon systems really do exist and really do do what he claims they do, then the Russian rocket scientists have been busy over the last few years. In Putin's case, it IS rocket science. The Russian leader was clearly enjoying himself, backing up his speech with glorious sci-fi-type videos of missiles wooshing all over the world. Impressive but also rather infantile. We know Putin is spending as much money as the wavering Russian economy allows on rebooting the military, and he has a fixation on nuclear missiles because that enables him to claim that Russia is a military superpower which has to be respected. Trump, of course, is doing the same, continuing the nuclear modernisation progamme begun by Barak Obama. But Trump hasn't yet spoken to the nation with Whizz Bang stuff going on on a screen behind him. I suspect that's what he will do next, perhaps after his planned military parade. Meanwhile, Putin has stolen the limelight with his prototype nuclear-powered missiles that can fly around the globe without limit. A cruise missile that is powered by a nuclear reactor!! Really? Is that possible? I hope the Pentagon's Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) is keeping up with this development because if it's true, the Americans will have to do the same - a missile with a nuclear warhead one end and a nuclear power plant at the other. This is arms racing at its worst, but there seems to be no way round it. With relations between Moscow and Washington at such a low ebb - and who would have believed it after Trump's initial charm offensive with Moscow? - there is absolutely no chance of two sensible leaders getting together at a summit and talking about arms restraint and missile cutbacks. Gone are those days, although, so far, the treaty limits that exist already are being adhered to - apart from what appears to be a blatant breach of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty by Russia with their too-long-range cruise missile. Today it's all about military macho power and that is potentially dangerous for all of us. Putin made it clear he would be ready to use nuclear weapons if he had to. At the age of 65, Putin seems to have a new lease of life. But then he knows he will win the next election for a further term as president and throwing a few nukes around, even if only on video, is a helluva easy way to remind the Russian people that he's the boss.