Sign-In
Cart
The Cool War: Nuclear Forces, Crisis Signaling, and the Russo-Ukraine War, 2014 - 2022
Hardcover
Series: Transforming War
General World HistoryRussian HistoryWeapons of Mass Destruction
Publisher Price: $44.95
ISBN13: 9781682476895
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
Published: Oct 14 2025
Pages: 408
Weight: 1.58
Height: 1.06 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Sean Maloney reveals how Vladimir Putin has aggressively leveraged nuclear signaling to manipulate NATO and deter Western intervention in Ukraine. With Cold War-level brinkmanship and modern information warfare, Russia's tactics have reshaped the strategic landscape--and raised urgent questions about how long the West can hold the line.
Nuclear signaling is defined as the deliberate maneuvering of nuclear forces to deter and influence an adversary's actions. Author Sean Maloney shows how Russian leader Vladimir Putin has systematically employed nuclear signaling to force desired behavior from both NATO and the United States. This strategy has escalated greatly during the Russo-Ukraine War as Putin seeks to deter Western intervention and support of Ukraine.
Putin uses many forms of nuclear signaling, including ordering jets capable of carrying nuclear weapons to fly in western European airspace, staging a joint bomber exercise with China near Alaska, and instructing submarines carrying nuclear weapons to surface through the Arctic icepack. The frequency of this signaling far exceeds that of similar activity during the Cold War and has escalated to more dangerous levels than before. When Russia experienced setbacks on the battlefield, Putin often intensified his nuclear-force posturing by paring it with thinly veiled threats to use tactical nuclear weapons.
Maloney argues convincingly that in the post-Cold War era, Putin has skillfully combined his use of nuclear signaling with advances in information technology to more effectively manipulate Western nations. He asserts that the United States was initially late in recognizing this development, but as the situation worsened, America and NATO have devised a series of responses that now hold Russia in check. The question is, for how long?
Maloney concludes that Putin's nuclear posturing has produced mixed results. First and foremost, Putin did successfully deter the United States and other NATO countries from outright military action in defense of Ukraine following the 2022 invasion. However, Russia's nuclear signaling did not prevent the West from providing weapons and intelligence to Ukraine, nor did it stop NATO's expansion. Nevertheless, the partial success of Russia's Cool War activity does not lessen the significance of this new reality or the scope of the problems that face the West moving forward.
Also from
Maloney, Sean M.
The Canadian Army in Afghanistan: Volume II, Part 1: Counter-Insurgency in Kandahar
Maloney, Sean M.
Hardcover
The Canadian Army in Afghanistan: Volume II, Part 2: Counter-Insurgency in Kandahar
Maloney, Sean M.
Hardcover
The Canadian Army in Afghanistan: Volume 1: A Nation Under Fire, 2001-2006
Maloney, Sean M.
Hardcover
L'Armée Canadienne en Afghanistan, Volume II, partie 1: La contre-insurrection à Kandahar
Maloney, Sean M.
Hardcover
L'Armée Canadienne en Afghanistan, Volume II, partie 2: La contre-insurrection à Kandahar
Maloney, Sean M.
Hardcover
L'Armée Canadienne en Afghanistan, Volume I: Une nation sous les tirs, de 2001 à 2006
Maloney, Sean M.
Hardcover
Also in
Weapons of Mass Destruction
Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World
Wallace, Chris
Hardcover
U.S. Army Special Forces Guide to Unconventional Warfare: Devices and Techniques for Incendiaries
United States Department of the Army
Army
Paperback
Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs: Unconventional Warfare in the Ancient World
Mayor, Adrienne
Paperback
The Pentagon's Brain: An Uncensored History of Darpa, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency
Jacobsen, Annie
Paperback
Great American Gamble: Deterrence Theory and Practice from the Cold War to the Twenty-First Century
Payne, Keith B.
Paperback
A Plague Upon Humanity: The Hidden History of Japan's Biological Warfare Program
Barenblatt, Daniel
Paperback
Globemaster Down: Soviet Espionage and the Doomed American Attempt to Sneak Nukes Into Europe
Robberson, Tod
Hardcover
Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety
Schlosser, Eric
Paperback
Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself-While the Rest of Us Die
Graff, Garrett M.
Paperback
Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World
Wallace, Chris
Paperback
The Hiroshima Men: The Quest to Build the Atomic Bomb, and the Fateful Decision to Use It
MacGregor, Iain
Hardcover
U.S. Army Special Forces Guide to Unconventional Warfare: Devices and Techniques for Incendiaries
U S Department of the Army
Paperback
Three Days in January: Dwight Eisenhower's Final Mission (Large Print Edition)
Baier, Bret
Whitney, Catherine
Paperback
The First Total War: Napoleon's Europe and the Birth of Warfare as We Know It
Bell, David A.
Paperback
The Greatest Scientific Gamble: A Story of Impossible Odds, Rival Scientists, and the Atomic Bomb
Joseloff, Michael
Paperback
The Hiroshima Men: The Quest to Build the Atomic Bomb, and the Fateful Decision to Use It
MacGregor, Iain
Paperback
Tickling the Dragon's Tail: Politicians, Bureaucrats, and Scientists in the Nuclear Age
Kaplan, Jeffrey
Paperback
Environmental Warfare in Gaza: Colonial Violence and New Landscapes of Resistance
Molavi, Shourideh C.
Paperback
The Dead Hand (Pulitzer Prize Winner): The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy
Hoffman, David
Paperback
The Greatest Scientific Gamble: A Story of Impossible Odds, Rival Scientists, and the Atomic Bomb
Joseloff, Michael
Hardcover
Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-Up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World
Blume, Lesley M. M.
Paperback
15 Minutes: General Curtis Lemay and the Countdown to Nuclear Annihilation
Keeney, L. Douglas
Paperback
Flashes in the Dark Volume 2: USAF Nuclear Espionage in Argentina, 1960-1966
Marón, Gustavo
Paperback
A Higher Form of Killing: The Secret History of Chemical and Biological Warfare
Paxman, Jeremy
Harris, Robert
Paperback
Training for Atomic Warfare: US Army Doctrine and Education in the Early Cold War, 1945-1963
Hardy, Brad
Hardcover
Cleaning Up the Bomb Factory: Grassroots Activism and Nuclear Waste in the Midwest
Huegel, Casey A.
Paperback
The Impossible Bomb: The Hidden History of British Scientists and the Race to Create an Atomic Weapon
Williams, Gareth
Hardcover
State Secrets: An Insider's Chronicle of the Russian Chemical Weapons Program
Mirzayanov, Vil S.
Paperback
Defusing Armageddon: Inside Nest, America's Secret Nuclear Bomb Squad
Richelson, Jeffrey T.
Paperback
Missileman: The Secret Life of Cold War Engineer Wallace Clauson
Sullivan, Alice
Clauson, John
Paperback
Tickling the Dragon's Tail: Politicians, Bureaucrats, and Scientists in the Nuclear Age
Kaplan, Jeffrey
Hardcover
The Pentagon's Brain: An Uncensored History of Darpa, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency (Large Print Edition)
Jacobsen, Annie
Hardcover
Arnhem 1944: An Epic Battle Revisited: Vol. 2: The Lost Victory. September-October 1944
Bergström, Christer
Paperback
Atomic America: How a Deadly Explosion and a Feared Admiral Changed the Course of Nuclear History
Tucker, Todd
Paperback
The Myth of the Nuclear Revolution: Power Politics in the Atomic Age
Lieber, Keir A.
Press, Daryl G.
Hardcover
The General vs. the President: MacArthur and Truman at the Brink of Nuclear War (Large Print Edition)
Brands, H. W.
Paperback
The Gas and Flame Men: Baseball and the Chemical Warfare Service During World War I
Leeke, Jim
Hardcover
Legacies of the Manhattan Project: Reflections on 75 Years of a Nuclear World
Broderick, Mick
Dickerson, Hilary
Paperback
Cleaning Up the Bomb Factory: Grassroots Activism and Nuclear Waste in the Midwest
Huegel, Casey A.
Hardcover
Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II (Large Print Edition)
Thomas, Evan
Thomas, Evan
Paperback
Oliphant: The Australian Genius Who Developed Radar and Showed Oppenheimer How to Build the Bomb
Perry, Roland
Paperback
Flashes in the Dark Volume 1: USAF Covert Operations and Nuclear Intelligence in Argentina, 1946-1957
Marón, Gustavo
Paperback
Personal and Family Survival (Historic Reference Edition): The Historic Cold-War-Era Manual For Preparing For Emergency Shelter Survival And Civil Def
U. S. Office of Civil Defense
Paperback
The End of Violence: France and the Single Struggle of Jacques de Bollardière
McDonnell, Hugh
Hardcover
Ready Aim Fire: Major James Francis Thomas: The Fourth Victim in the Execution of Lieutenant Harry "Breaker" Morant
Unkles, James
Paperback
Raised in the Shadow of the Bomb: Children of the Manhattan Project
Steinberg, Deborah Leah
Paperback
Aftermath: The Remnants of War: From Landmines to Chemical Warfare--The Devastating Effects of Modern Combat
Webster, Donovan
Paperback
The Button: The New Nuclear Arms Race and Presidential Power from Truman to Trump
Collina, Tom Z.
Perry, William J.
Hardcover
Prompt and Utter Destruction, Third Edition: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs Against Japan
Walker, J. Samuel
Paperback
The Chinese Phantom: The Hunt for the World's Most Dangerous Arms Dealer
Grüll, Philipp
Obermaier, Frederik
Giesen, Christoph
Paperback
Biowarrior: Inside the Soviet/Russian Biological War Machine
Orent, Wendy
Domaradskij, Igor V.
Hardcover
The Sleeper Agent: The Rise of Lyme Disease, Chronic Illness, and the Great Imitator Antigens of Biological Warfare
Finnegan, A. W.
Paperback
Laboratory Warriors: How Allied Science and Technology Tipped the Balance in World War II
Shachtman, Tom
Paperback
The Us Atlas of Nuclear Fallout 1951-1970 Vol. I Abridged General Reader Edition
Miller, Richard L.
Paperback
Behind the Fog: How the U.S. Cold War Radiological Weapons Program Exposed Innocent Americans
Martino-Taylor, Lisa
Paperback
Winning and Losing the Nuclear Peace: The Rise, Demise, and Revival of Arms Control
Krepon, Michael
Paperback
Biohazard: The Chilling True Story of the Largest Covert Biological Weapons Program in the World--Told from the Inside by the Man Who Ran It
Alibek, Ken
Handelman, Stephen
Paperback
Political Fallout: Nuclear Weapons Testing and the Making of a Global Environmental Crisis
Higuchi, Toshihiro
Paperback
The Official U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Operations Field Manual
Department of the Army
Paperback
How The Hell Did We Get Here?: A Citizen's Guide to the New Cold War and the Rebuilding of Deterrence
Struhsaker, Paul
Hardcover
On the Home Front: The Cold War Legacy of the Hanford Nuclear Site
Gerber, Michele Stenehjem
Paperback
The Wretched Atom: America's Global Gamble with Peaceful Nuclear Technology
Hamblin, Jacob Darwin
Hardcover