A Russian 'Doctor of Military Sciences' says Moscow should just nuke Yellowstone if tensions boil over

Earlier this week, the Russian president of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems outlined two geophysically weak US regions to attack in order to combat NATO's aggression toward Russia.

In his article, Konstantin Sivkov justifies the option of "complete destruction of the enemy" because NATO has been "moving to the borders or Russia."

Sivkov, listed as a "Docter of Military Sciences," described scenarios that involved dropping a nuclear weapon near Yellowstone's supervolcano or the San Andreas Fault.

(Screen grab/Discovery Channel)Computer generated image of an eruption in Yellowstone.In the past 2.1 million years, Yellowstone's volcano has violently erupted three times and "blanketed parts of the North American continent with ash and debris," according to the US Geological Survey. 

Some scientists argue that Yellowstone's active supervolcano is long overdue for a colossal eruption. 

"Geologists believe that the Yellowstone supervolcano could explode at any moment. There are signs of growing activity there. Therefore it suffices to push the relatively small, for example the impact of the munition megaton class to initiate an eruption. The consequences will be catastrophic for the United States, a country just disappears," he said, according to a translation by Sydney Morning Herald.

According to a Discovery Channel documentary, an eruption of this magnitude would bury North America, drape the atmosphere in a sulfur haze, dim sunlight, and plunge the world into a volcanic winter. 

(Screen grab/YouTube)Again computer generated image.Another option would be to drop a nuclear bomb near California's San Andreas Fault. "A detonation of a nuclear weapon there can trigger catastrophic events like a coast-scale tsunami which can completely destroy the infrastructure of the United States," he said, according to the Sydney Morning Herald's translation.

Since last year's illegal annexation of Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin has responded to international criticism and economic sanctions placed on his country by flexing his nation's military muscle around the world.

The crisis in Ukraine reflects a turning point in NATO's stance on Putin and emphasizes a growing concern stemming from the origins of NATO, which was formed for collective territorial defense.

"He wants to restore the Russian empire ... I don't know where he'll stop," Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) said of Putin earlier this month during a speech at the Center for Strategic International Studies.