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I'd be shocked if they actually had the capacity to fire the nuclear weapons Russia gave them.
That was the whole situation in Ukraine in 1994, Ukraine had them as part of the Soviet Union, they gave them to Russia in return for a promise from Russia to not use military force against them (whoops). Seems like a bad deal for Ukraine until you realize that they weren't able to fire those weapons, the control was still in Moscow so it wasn't like they could be used for national defense.
I'm inclined to agree with you but there's a remote chance the puppet state of Belarus has the capability to launch. If they do, Russia can try to go for a facade of, if not innocence (that ship has sailed), less-than-complete guilt. Can't imagine that anyone would buy it though.
Yeah, I've thought the same with North Korea and their nukes. China and Russia might just see them as an entity that might nuke their enemies to hurt them but without the destruction capability that might trigger a MAD style "launch everything in response!" while they themselves can keep the MAD facade up (and I'm skeptical about MAD because I don't think many with the power to launch will make the decision that it's time to end civilization as we know it, though a nuclear exchange could likely escalate to that eventually even if it didn't immediately).
But I also don't think such a facade would hold up with Belarus. Maybe North Korea could be argued to be independent enough from China and Russia that a launch from them shouldn't automatically be considered something that Xi and Putin both signed off on. But Lukashenko is only in power because Russia keeps him there and even if he can order a launch, if Putin didn't support one, he'd probably kill him himself if he can get to him quicker than NATO can. That might be the only reason NATO wouldn't go all out instantly, just to see how Russia reacts to decide if it's a "end Belarus and hope it doesn't kick off ww3" or a "welp, ww3 just started" scenario.
until you realize that they weren't able to fire those weapons, the control was still in Moscow
That's not a showstopper. It's just an issue of 'how long it takes to retrofit/remove PALs'
I didn’t know they have any.
Russia recently shifted some into Belarus, I think like 3 months ago or so.
Allegedly.
Trying to copy his boss I see. "Threat? We'll nuke you! Another threat? We'll nuke you too!"
Belarus, you allowed Russia to use your land and cross the Belarussian/Ukrainian border to launch attacks on Kyiv. You're already the aggressor. You can't claim self defense just because the attack failed.
The problem is that they would probably use them in the event of their own aggression, too.
If pootin wants to use belarus as a proxy, maybe it would be a good idea to call that bluff and annihilate his proxy's launch abilities (which may include Lukashenko).
"Jeez pootin, you're buddy was threatening to kill us all. He was totally unhinged. Glad you're not like him!"
I could be wrong but this almost seems like a threat to russia too
Eh, no. Belarus is not able to launch the nukes themselves, they only have Russian-controlled nukes. In a way it's an empty threat to the west as well, since technically Lukashenko has little say in the matter.