Tactical Nuclear Weapons and NATO.pdf - Program on Strategic ...

their modernization as a response. The conventional
modernization of Chinese forces has raised questions
about Russia’s deterrent capabilities in Siberia <strong>and</strong> the
Far East. These issues were the subjects of the Vostok
2010 exercise against a hypothetical enemy, which
many observers concluded represented both China
<strong>and</strong> U.S.-Japanese forces in different parts of the theater.
41
Russia’s Eurasian Threat Environment.
The core challenge to strategic stability in Russia’s
TNWs lies in the military-political relationship between
strategic nuclear weapons <strong>and</strong> TNWs in Russian
military doctrine. Karaganov, in defining strategic
nuclear forces as the core of strategic stability, was
right to invoke the lines from Goethe <strong>and</strong> Bulgakov,
but it is important to note the differences between
Mephistopheles in Goethe’s Faustus <strong>and</strong> in Wol<strong>and</strong>in
Bulgakov’s novel. In Faustus, Mephistopheles is the
agent of the Devil who tempts Faust in every way.
But Divine Grace saves Faust because of his striving
for meaning <strong>and</strong> fulfillment. Mephistopheles’ evil actions
are, in the larger scheme, a part of God’s divine
activities. But in Bulgakov’s Master <strong>and</strong> Margarita,
Wol<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> his gang of petty demons (melkiebesy),
including witches, vampires, <strong>and</strong> Begemot—a gigantic
talking cat, black as a raven <strong>and</strong> with outrageous
cavalryman’s whiskers—are actors in their own right.
These little demons perform their own pranks. Unlike
Faust, Bulgakov’s Master is not saved by his striving,
but liberated by Wol<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> his gang who tempt <strong>and</strong>
punish the wicked, actively administer justice, <strong>and</strong>
consciously want to act as deliverers. Karaganov’s
metaphor about strategic stability <strong>and</strong> nuclear deter-
137