There was a large element of posturing in the presentation that accompanied Vladimir Putin’s state of the union address last week, showing a mock-up missile seemingly heading for the coast of Florida. It is hard to know whether the weapons he boasts Russia has developed — including an “invincible” hypersonic missile, an underwater drone and a nuclear-powered cruise missile — really exist, or work as well as claimed. Even if they do, they would hardly change the balance of power. Yet this is still a dangerous escalation in both rhetoric and military strategy.
弗拉迪米爾•普丁(Vladimir Putin)上週發表國情咨文演講時使用的畫面——一枚模型飛彈似乎正在飛向佛羅里達海岸——有很大故作姿態的成分。很難弄清楚他所吹噓的俄羅斯研發的武器——包括「無敵的」極音速飛彈、水下無人潛航器和核動力巡弋飛彈——是否真的存在或者像宣稱的那樣強大。即便真有，這些武器也很難改變當下的力量平衡。然而，此舉仍是俄方言辭和軍事戰略上的一次危險升級。