The risk that the war in Ukraine escalates past the nuclear threshold
Disaster does not seem imminent but it does seem disturbingly possible
TO A 16TH-CENTURY siege warrior, the art of the escalade lay in climbing up a city’s fortifications without encountering something unpleasantly hot or sharp. To the men who rewrote the rules of strategy for the nuclear age, the art of escalation was the process which, bit by bit, moved a limited war towards an unlimited one. As in sieges of old, the key was a ladder: a conceptual one where each rung both increased the level of the conflict and sent a signal to the other side.
This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline “Herman’s ladder”
From the March 19th 2022 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Briefing
Talent is scarce. Yet many countries spurn it
There is growing competition for the best and the brightest migrants
America’s “left-behind” are doing better than ever
But manufacturing jobs are still in decline
Swing-state economies are doing just fine
They would be doing even better if the Biden-Harris administration had been more cynical
Can Kamala Harris win on the economy?
A visit to a crucial swing state reveals the problems she will face
Chinese firms are growing rapidly in the global south
Western firms beware
A shift in the media business is changing what it is to be a sports fan
Team loyalty is being replaced by “fluid fandom”