The threat of war

Russian President Vladimir Putin sometimes threatens to go nuclear, but his bluffs are as transparent as U.S President Donald Trump’s threats of violence ‘like nobody has ever seen before.’

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and U.S. President Donald Trump. In conflicts involving these countries, the aggressor nations have nuclear weapons. That means it’s still not time to panic, because the aggressors have lots of other weapons to coerce the victims, writes Gwynne Dyer. Photographs courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Opinion

BY GWYNNE DYER

May 13, 2026

LONDON, U.K.— A Politico opinion poll conducted in the four biggest NATO countries back in February revealed almost identical popular expectations about the likelihood of a global war in the next five years. In every one—the United States, the United Kingdom, Fr...

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