You are mumbling, a bit incoherently.
Who exactly is this “Russia” that “prefers … nuclear attack against the USA to Russian acquiesce”?
I don’t think this is true of Putin or his ”silovicki.”
Personally Putin definitely prefer to fight a nuclear war to acquiescence. Because defeat means certain death to him, and fighting a nuclear war gives him a good chance of survival.
Siloviki, because of the same reason prefer to win a nuclear war to be defeated in a conventional conflict. And right now, they are making their preparation to (if it is necessary) fight and win it, including open discussions in professional journals (like "Voennaya Mysl").
Not true of the Russian people either.
It depends on your wording of the question. If you ask an ordinary Russian guy, say:
" What do you prefer:
a) allow NATO conquere Ukraine and attack Russia, which means 10% chance of your survival and 100% chance of significant decrease of your wealth.
b) be mobilized, fight and win a war against the whole NATO conventionally (and with some tactical nukes), which means 50% chance of your survival and 100% chance of the years of the hard working.
c) nuclear attack against the USA after the proper preparations, which means 90% chance of your survival and 50% chance of significant increase of your wealth?
And most of them will answer something like "Nuke them all! " Actually, nuclear weapons are pretty emphatised in Russia.
Say, back in 2015, in almost unstressed situation, roughly 60% of the Russians agreed to sign a petition about launching nuclear attack against the USA.
Your comment about the Biden Administration doing nothing to “defend America” from a hypothetical Russian nuclear attack … also seems to make little sense to me.
There are three main types of the deterrence:
1. Deterrence of the direct Russian attack against the American nuclear forces (which demands the Credible Second Strike Capability).
2. Deterrence of the extremely provocative Russian behavior which is not a direct attack against American nuclear forces (which demands the Credible First Strike Capability)
3. Deterrence of the minor nuclear provocations, (which demands the Limited nuclear war capability).
And right now American Deterrence type I is quite weak. In the case of well-prepared Russian counter-force attack, the USA hardly will be able to kill more than 1 million of Russians.
That doesn’t mean nuclear war is impossible of course. The war in Ukraine, whether it leads to the collapse of Russia, a regional temporary Russian “victory” or “defeat” — all can in certain circumstances bring world war closer, or lead to “accidental” miscalculation and a nuclear holocaust.
Miscalculations are bad, but what is really important, it's a possibility of the well-calculated Russian attack.
At this point there are no certainties. All sides (in Ukraine, Russia, the West) and all Americans should be worried and cautious. Historic U.S. policies of expanding NATO and backing Ukrainian nationalists may have been mistaken, but now “the die has been cast” and the West must not simply abandon Ukraine to Putin’s tender mercies.
The mistakes should be corrected. Anyway, if the Russians are ready to escalate and the USA are not ready, it means that the Russians can win just by the raising the bets (while they, looks like prefer to win with minimal stakes).
The Biden Administration has been rightly cautious in increasing its military aid to Kiev, but it has been drawn further into the quagmire by circumstances. I don’t believe the U.S. will escalate much further, but you are right that the Russians — out of a sense of desperation — might.
Remember most Western military experts did not really expect the Ukrainians to stop the initial Feb. 2020 Russian assault.
The Ukrainians didn't. Western involvement did. And now the Russians are preparing to fight the NATO.
Behind the scenes, there are objective forces working toward a ceasefire or even a tentative “frozen conflict” (if neither side collapses), but no side at this point seems genuinely ready to make necessary compromises for “peace.”
But behind the scene, there are also other objective forces, working towards the escalation of the conflict.
