Episode Notes:

Ankit sat down with Heather Williams, the director of the Project on Nuclear Issues and a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The two discussed the risk of nuclear use in the course of the Russo-Ukrainian war today based on a recent study Heather carried out with co-authors. They also talk about nuclear deterrence and its relationship to “nuclear blackmail,” what Russian threat-making tells us about the efficacy of nuclear deterrence, and ask some forward-looking questions about what a post-war Russia that relies more on nuclear weapons might mean for European security and arms control.