http://blog.washingtonpost.com/world...ol_1.html#more
the idea is obviously being floated.
no way to know if it is being seriously entertained---the link above is to a range of international press reponses to the floating proposal/threat, from this morning's washington post. the article is full of links, so i'll leave it this way.
i think this idea is profoundly misguided.
particularly the tactical nuke option.
i find the idea that the americans are considering a first-strike use of a nuclear weapon to be unbelievable. particularly when the considerations are taking place in the context of an administration, the incompetence of which in terms of planning for actual contingencies (rather than planning for only what they want to see, what they wish for) is self-evident.